Forms

Forms and paperwork that ask for a person to state their gender are often a challenge for people who have a nonbinary gender identity. Some people who want to be recognised as nonbinary want to be able to mark their gender as "nonbinary" in forms, in some way. Other people would prefer that forms don't record gender at all, as this would make the least trouble. Forms usually only let a person say they are either female or male, with unsatisfactory alternative options, or usually no other options at all. There can also be problems if the answer doesn't match the person's legal gender. Some forms ask for gender even when this information isn't helpful or relevant to what the organisation does. On paper, it can be possible to create a nonbinary option by leaving it blank or writing in a new option, but computerized forms are less flexible, and might need phone calls and emails to change after the fact. Such activism has often been successful in getting an organisation to change its forms.

Many organizations support the inclusion of nonbinary options on forms.

The recognition page in this wiki keeps track of which organisations' forms do or don't allow people to mark their gender as nonbinary, or to omit a person's gender information.

For medical forms, it is widely recommended that a multi-step process be used. For example, one question for gender identity, one question for sex assigned at birth, one question for legal gender, one question for pronouns, and additional questions to determine what reproductive organs the patient has, so as to determine appropriate screenings and other procedures.