Dana Zzyym

Dana Alix Zzyym is an intersex activist and former sailor who was the first military veteran in the United States to seek a non-binary gender U.S. passport, in the lawsuit Zzyym v. Pompeo.

Early life
Zzyym was born in 1958. Zzyym has expressed that their childhood as a military brat made it out of the question for them to be associated with the queer community as a youth due to the prevalence of homophobia in the armed forces. Their parents hid Zzyym's status as intersex from them and Zzyym discovered their identity and the surgeries their parents had approved for them by themselves after their Navy service. In 1978, Zzyym joined the Navy as a machinist's mate.

Activism
Zzyym has been an avid supporter of the Intersex Campaign for Equality.

Legal case
Zzyym is the first veteran to seek a non-binary gender U.S. passport. In light of the State Department's continuing refusal to recognize an appropriate gender marker, on June 27, 2017 a federal court granted Lambda Legal's motion to reopen the case. On September 19, 2018, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado enjoined the U.S. Department of State from relying upon its binary-only gender marker policy to withhold the requested passport.