When Grant — a transgender man in the Pacific Northwest — mailed in his passport application in early January before Donald Trump became president of the United States, he thought there would be no issues changing his name and gender for the new document. He had already updated all his documentation in his home state and completed a court-ordered name change. All that was left was to fill out the passport application, pay the fee and wait for new documents.
“My U.S. passport was going to expire in September, but I thought it wise to try to get my passport renewed before Trump started trying to mess with things,” Grant told Truthout. “I sent in my passport application before the inauguration. My check cleared the bank on Wednesday, January 22. And then Marco Rubio made his order to the State Department to halt processing the passports of trans people.”
As of now, he is still unsure what will become of his application. Like every impacted individual who was interviewed for this article, Grant is using a pseudonym to prevent his ongoing application from receiving any unneeded attention drawn to its status.
Transgender people in the U.S. who wish to update their documentation to reflect their identity now face the predicament of an opaque State Department seemingly complying with a vague executive order that has sought to enshrine sex assigned at birth as immutable, despite the existence of millions of transgender people.
Specifically, the order says that the State Department “shall implement changes to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the holder’s sex,” based on the document holder’s birth certificate.
However, this order has given no guidance for transgender Americans who have already changed their gender markers on documents to reflect their gender identity. Currently, 14 U.S. states allow for trans Americans to update their birth certificates based on self-identification, meaning they can legally change their gender markers through a form, according to the Movement Advancement Project. An additional 12 states and the District of Columbia offer trans Americans the option of updating their birth certificates, but require additional documentation to complete the process.
As of late January, the State Department began halting passport applications for transgender Americans seeking to update their gender marker. According to a memo reviewed by NBC News, the new Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said, “it is specified that the policy of the United States is that an individual’s sex is not changeable.”
For Grant, and many other trans people in the U.S., currently their passport applications show as being “in process.” There has been little guidance from the State Department about how their applications will be processed.
In addition, Rubio’s memo mentioned that applicants seeking a nonbinary “X” option for their gender marker would no longer have that option available. What that means for applicants who submitted their forms before Trump’s executive order is unclear. One nonbinary applicant told Truthout that they submitted their passport application to update the gender marker with an “X” on January 18, and since January 22 it has just been listed as “in progress.”
Truthout sent a list of detailed questions to the State Department about how it is handling passport applications for transgender Americans, but did not receive a response.
This information void has left many scrambling to find help through advocacy organizations or through crowdsourced information. An online community on Reddit has been flooded with trans people sharing their experiences going through the process of passport applications in recent weeks, and others asking questions about what has changed in the process. Also, many individuals have used the platform to show how their passports have been returned, including instances of damaged documents and processed documents without gender markers being updated.
Arli Christian, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told Truthout that the national organization has received “over 1,800” inquiries from trans people asking what rights they have and how they can work to ensure that their documents accurately reflect their lives.
“Throughout the last few weeks, there’s been chaos and confusion about what is happening with the gender marker change policy,” Christian said. Those reaching out want to know “where people’s documents are, when they will get things back, and what rights and recourse they have.”
Currently, the ACLU has filed suit against the Trump administration for this executive order, charging that it causes undue harm toward transgender Americans and violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
However, while this lawsuit is ongoing, many people still do not have a clear idea of how their passport could be updated if their application remains in process, or if they have to renew their passport in the future.
Another layer complicating this situation is how, without explicit guidance on what to do with transgender Americans’ passport applications, much of the process falls to staff-level bureaucrats making judgement calls at passport offices around the country.
“The chaotic manner in which they have attempted to change this policy and the literal underlying discrimination and targeting of a specific population has empowered officials across the country to continue that discrimination,” Christian added.
This allowance has led to many anecdotal stories about damaged passports, as well as other damaged documentation being returned. Multiple people have expressed to Truthout that they are unsure they will ever receive the copies of the birth certificates or court orders they included in passport applications to ensure their documents were correctly updated. For individuals without multiple certified copies of these documents, that could open them up to a whole raft of potential problems.
Identity documents are important in daily life, and the many different avenues to update and process those documents present logistical headaches for trans people seeking to correct issues. It’s also unclear which agencies are taking hardline interpretations of the president’s executive order, and which ones are honoring updates that came under past local, state and national administrations.
Christian said there is “no clear-cut answer” on what the State Department could do in the future for trans people in the U.S. who have valid updated gender markers and need to update their passports.
Based on some anecdotes, however, the news does not appear to be positive. Actress Hunter Schafer, who is transfeminine, posted videos on her TikTok story on February 21 detailing how she had previously needed to get an emergency passport after having hers stolen in Spain last year. Now that she is back in the United States, she went to a local passport office to get a full passport based on her emergency documentation.
Despite noting her gender as “F” on the application — as it was on her previous passport and other identity documents — the State Department returned a same-day passport to her with the gender marked as “M,” outing her as transgender to the world.
“The reality of the situation, [is] that it is actually happening,” Schafer said in her series of videos. “And I was shocked, because I don’t know, I just didn’t think it was actually going to happen.”
Organizations such as Lambda Legal have started to put out guidance for LGBTQ Americans seeking to navigate this information vacuum, even going as far as to say, “Trans people who have a valid, current U.S. passport, regardless of the gender marker, should NOT apply to renew or change their gender marker OR name at this time.”
The organization listed several resources that trans people in the U.S. can use to get legal help and protections while considering their options on how to get updated documents.
Yet, many Americans may not have the ability to wait to see how lawsuits play out or if the State Department clarifies its policies publicly or changes its guidance. People whose work requires international travel may not have the luxury of postponing opportunities for fear of losing employment or academic opportunities.
Bryce, a Ph.D. student in Washington State, told Truthout that they are deciding what to do with their current passport, as it expires in March and they have scheduled interviews for jobs located outside the United States.
“My passport expires in March and has my dead name and gender marker on it. I haven’t had funds or capacity to update it until now, but since so many folks have reported their passports being held, the renewal app with the old paperwork is just sitting on my desk,” he told Truthout.
Currently, he says that his state ID is updated, but his birth certificate is in the process of being updated. This means that any passport application could have access to pieces of documentation with conflicting gender markers on them, allowing the State Department to choose which one would go on his passport and potentially out him.
If he were to receive an offer for a job abroad, he would act on advice given by lawyers for possible next steps in his case.
“I need to have an unexpired passport regardless of whether the gender marker is correct, but I’m not going to apply for renewal without talking to a lawyer first,” he added. The risk of having documents unilaterally held during the process is also a major fear during this process.
Without other options, many people may be left holding on to hope that a court decides that the State Department cannot continue its current guidance. Even then, it may be up to individual passport offices to follow through on any potential order.
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