Trans Americans can now get passports with the correct gender

In a blow to the Trump administration’s continued assault on trans rights, a federal judge has ruled that trans people can obtain passports in line with their gender.

This defies an executive order, issued on the first day of Trump’s presidency, which ruled that all US citizens must have gender markers on their passports corresponding with their sex assigned at birth. One of the many trans people affected by this measure was actress Hunter Schafer, who in February spoke out about getting a new passport which listed her as “male”, despite selecting female when she completed the application. 

“I just feel like it’s important to share that it's not just talk - that this is real and it’s happening and no one – no matter their circumstance, no matter how wealthy or white or pretty or whatever – is excluded,” she said in a TikTok video.

Countless other trans Americans, including six who brought a case to the Massachusetts district court earlier this year, have been similarly impacted. During the hearing, these individuals explained that they would experience anxiety, psychological distress and fear for their safety if they were required to travel with passports which misgender them, because they would effectively be forced to out themselves as trans every time they travelled – several reported previous instances of harassment where this scenario had occurred. 

An expert witness, epidemiologist Dr Ayden Scheim, testified that trans people who have passports with sex markers which contradict their gender identity are significantly more likely to experience psychological distress, suicidality, harassment, discrimination and violence. 

Thanks to the new preliminary injunction by Boston judge Julia Kobick, which was announced yesterday, trans and nonbinary people will now be able to update their passports to the correct gender. She made the decision after concluding that the prior policy was rooted in prejudice against trans Americans, likely violated their constitutional rights and discriminated on the basis of sex. 

But this is only a temporary measure, and the legal battle is still ongoing. “While this is good news,” cautioned the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “we will continue fighting until this executive order is blocked permanently.”