Policy can mean mis-gendered passports
Trans, non-binary people face difficult choices
By; Kathleen Wong
USA Today
..... in early January, [2025] while flying from West Virginia to New York City, Ashton Orr was flagged by airport security and accused of suing a fake ID. Orr's driver's license had been updated with a male sex designation, but his passport still listed him as female.
......
Orr was pulled aside for further questioning, and it wasn't until he outed himself as a transgender man that security let him through. Shaken, Orr decided to update his passport. he applied for an expedite renewal and sent along important medical documents, including his birth certificate, on January 16. [2025]
..... A few days later, President Donald Trump took office and signed a sweeping executive order acknowledging only two sexes - male and female - designated at birth. Immediately, the U.S. State Department began to issue passports only "with a male or female sex marker that matches the applicant;s biological sex," the agency told USA Today in an email. All applications for gender changes or the "X" gender marker - an option since 2022 to accommodate non-binary or inter-sex people - were suspended. Existing passports can be sued until expiration, the agency said.
..... After being left in a holding pattern for weeks, transgender applicants have learned their passport will be approved only if they accept one with there sex at birth - rendering it useless if their driver's license and birth certificate state otherwise.
.....
Orr, an LGBTQ+ advocate, was given tow options: withdraw his passport application or receive one with his "biological sex at birth." With his passport now in limbo, he's being forced to rearrange an upcoming trip to Ireland this month [03/2025] for a medical procedure.
..... "It's very isolating and concerning," Orr told USA Today. "Reeving a passport that mis-genders me is not just a clerical error; it's a profound denial of my identity and my existence. So I'm in this situation where I either have to choose one horrible thing or the other horrible thing."
..... Orr's experience reflects the struggles now faced by thousands of transgender, non-binary and inter-sex Americans who recently applied for a passport only to find themselves either without one or receiving one that doesn't reflect their gender identity - denying them the right to travel and other opportunities that depend on accurate identification.
.....
The new passport rule and other State Department changes have stirred safety concerns among these travelers, putting them at a greater risk of discrimination and harassment.
..... Shortly after the order, more than 1,500 people affected by the passport ban contacted the American Civil Liberties Union. One February 7, [2025] the ACLU sued the State Department on behalf of Orr and six other plaintiffs to pause the policy. The complaint accuse the agency of failing to notify the public about the changes within there required 60 days, violating the constitutional rights of transgender, non-binary and inter-sex people, and discriminating against them based on sex.
..... "The Trump administration is not going to stop here with passports, with identification measures," Orr said. "This is truly about control at the end of the day, and if we aren't going to stand up and push back against this, then who's going to?"
..... "This is about people's ability to move freely throughout the world. People need to trawl abroad for work, for school, for vacation, for joy," said ACLU attorney Aditi Fruitwala. "It's restricting their ability to live the life that they want to live, and that has real symbolic value by trying to push transgender, non-binary and inter-sex people out of public life, and saying that they don't exists in a very concrete, symbolic way. But they've always existed through our entire human history, and they'll always be here."
.....
The first hearing is set for march 25. [2025] Until then, there's not much travelers can do regarding "the muddled policy," Fruitwala said. "We are hoping for a good decision and a good decision promptly."
..... The State Department did not comment on the lawsuit to USA Today.
..... For the Transgender community - more than 2 million people in the U.S. - the passport ban added another layer of fear and anxiety around travel. Many LGBTQ+ travelers already face safety and discrimination concerns, said Matthiceu Jost, who founded misteb&B, a travel platform that has vetted more than 2 million accommodations worldwide that welcome LGBTQ+ travelers Jost, a gay man, cerated the platform after eh and his partner faced discrimination form a activation rental host in Barcelona in 2014.
..... "You have to do a lot of research, more than the general population," he said of the LGBTQ+ travel experience. "You have to be really cautious when you're traveling, sometimes even while walking the streets."
.....
With all the changes by the State Department, transgender, non-binary and inter-sex Americans who have valid passports still feel hesitant to travel.
..... Mikelle Cao, a Las Vegas Transgender woman whose passport was updated in December, [2024] said she's nervous to even travel within the U.S. and keeps her passport safe at home out of fear of losing it. "Trans people are just trying to survive. It's hard enough to add this extra hurdle," the content creator told USA Today.
..... "We also want to feel safe when we're out, when we;re suing the restroom: we also want to feel safe when we're traveling," Cao said. "A big part in safety comes with proving who we are if a police officer asks us for our ID, if a random security guard asks for our ID."
..... Navigating the uncertain future of his community has brought up an overwhelming mix of emotions, for Orr, who is also planning to flee from West Virgina because of growing hostility. "I'm having to learn how to find trans joy and hope in the smallest moments of my everyday life," he said. "this is such a hard and scary time, and knowing that I'm in solidarity and that I'm in community with others is really helpful."
..... Meanwhile, Orr is dealing with his travel insurance and the airline over postponing his upcoming tip. "I'm running into issues with the airline because they don't exactly have a segment in their insurance policies that handled people having their passport taken by the government," he said.