Court orders Army to include 'non-binary' option in recruitment system

The Constitutional Court ordered the National Army to include the 'non-binary' option in military service procedures. This decision comes after the court ruled in favor of a young person who alleged a violation of their rights to equality and the free development of their personality.

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In the case in question, the plaintiff, identified as Tonny Alberto Gualdrón Pacheco, stated that he was denied the right to update his military service record to reflect the gender identity with which he is legally recognized.

The above is linked to the fact that he already had official documents, such as the civil birth certificate and the citizenship card, in which the term 'non-binary' appeared.

In that regard, the Army responded that there was no legal basis for registering a marker other than 'male' or 'female' in its system. It also stated that, although the high court had already addressed this issue in ruling T-033 of 2022, it was up to Congress to define the applicable regulations.

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As part of its determination, the Court noted that gender identity does not constitute a single category, but a spectrum that encompasses diverse forms of self-perception and expression, " which must be constitutionally protected as manifestations of the free development of personality."

He also indicated that "maintaining this binary model without institutional adjustments that incorporate such identities reproduces a limited view of gender and constitutes a form of exclusion incompatible with the constituent mandate to ensure pluralism."

Similarly, he mentioned that the lack of mechanisms to carry out this registration within the process implies a differentiated and unjustified treatment.

In that regard, the Army will have a period of two months, counted from the notification of the ruling, to design and execute a training plan aimed at ensuring that "the people in charge of managing the entity's information systems guarantee the constitutional rights of people with non-binary gender identity, as established in this ruling."

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PORTFOLIO*With information from EL TIEMPO