Yesterday marked a small victory for transgender, nonbinary, and intersex folks in the United States. As of this moment, a passport with a sex designation that aligns with one’s gender identity or with an “X” sex designation must be made available to anyone applying to:
– Obtain a new passport
– Change the sex designation or update their name on their current passport
– Replace a lost, stolen, or damaged passport, or
– Renew their passport within one year of its expiration.
This includes folks who were previously sent a passport with a sex designation that lists their sex assigned at birth under the Trump administration’s policy.
After Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office back in January of 2025, which required trans and nonbinary people to put their assigned sex at birth on their passport, and within 48 hours the State Department paused the processing of some passport applications submitted by transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people and returned others with a newly-issued passport marked with their sex assigned at birth.
According to the ACLU, in February 2025, Orr v. Trump was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and Covington and Burling LLP, on behalf of seven people who have not been able to obtain passports that match who they are because of the State Department’s new Passport Policy or are likely to be impacted by the new policy upon their next renewal. The complaint was filed in the federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts, with a federal judge ruling yesterday to temporarily block the executive order.
Jesse Rossman, Legal Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said:
“This decision acknowledges the immediate and profound negative impact that the Trump administration’s passport policy has on the ability of people across the country to travel for work, school, and family. The Trump administration’s passport policy attacks the foundations of the right to privacy and the freedom for all people to live their lives safely and with dignity. We will continue to fight to stop this unlawful policy once and for all.”
Leave a Reply