“This Gender Passport grants permission and offers an affirmation for anyone who travels across the landscape of gender. As we attempt to move freely and navigate the obstacles that would prevent our full self-expression, the Gender Passport can be used to shield us from detractors and uplift us through the dangerous waters of judgement and erasure.

This Passport was inspired by my own journey. The first thing anyone ever said about me was, “It’s a girl!” With those three little words came a set of strict expectations, judgements, assumptions, and demands that I still find myself needing to push against more than 60 years later. For those of us who are labeled and judged for our clothing, hair, the way we walk, our color choices, work life, and how we see and present ourselves, the Gender Passport erases those restrictions and helps us meet our basic human needs for safety, acceptance, legal protection, and quite simply, just a safe place to pee.

The Gender Passport is a loving permission slip. It’s intended to affirm and encourage us all to express, accept, and celebrate our whole selves, however we may identify.

My work integrates handmade linocut images with letterpress messages that attempt to elevate visibility and strengthen identity, especially for queer teens and children. With letterpress and linocut, I believe that there’s a compelling kind of alchemy when you combine solid, specific, concise words with a rougher, handmade image. It’s as if the image has the kiss of humanity, and the words are more mechanical and solid. Like complementary colors, they complete each other, and they command more attention and consideration together than either could separately.” — artist Kitty Koppelman

The Gender Passport has two alternate editions.