The Trump administration had ordered that passports only show applicants’ genders as assigned at birth. A judge said the order likely violated constitutional rights by discriminating on the basis of sex.
A US federal judge on Tuesday ordered the US State Department to continue issuing passports to citizens with “X” as a gender designation, or for transgender citizens who would want their gender identity reflected on their passports.
The move blocks the State Department’s enforcement of an executive order from President Donald Trump in January that directed the US government to officially recognize genders as only male and female.
The State Department’s passport policy was changed to “request the applicant’s biological sex at birth,” and barred applicants from self-identifying their sex.
US District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston wrote in the ruling that the State Department’s passport policy “likely violates the constitutional rights of thousands of Americans” by discriminating on the basis of sex.
Since October 2021, under former President Joe Biden, individuals identifying as nonbinary, intersex and gender nonconforming could put an X identification marker rather than their genders assigned at birth.
What is the background of the ruling?
In April, six transgender people joined a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenging the passport policy.
At the time, Kobick issued a preliminary injunction against the policy, but that ruling only applied to the six people involved in the lawsuit who were allowed to obtain passports consistent with their gender identity.
Tuesday’s ruling extends the initial injunction to include all transgender and non-binary US citizens who need passport services.
The April injunction stated that the passport policy discriminating on the basis of sex failed to meet the requirement that the government “demonstrate that its actions are substantially related to an important governmental interest.”
Kobick said that the individuals involved in the injunction demonstrated that the passport policy violates their constitutional rights to equal protection.
How has Trump admin responded?
In its initial response to the lawsuit, the Trump administration said that the policy “does not violate the equal protection guarantees of the Constitution” and that plaintiffs would not be harmed as they are still free to travel abroad.
The White House claimed that Tuesday’s ruling was “yet another attempt by a rogue judge to thwart President Trump’s agenda and push radical gender ideology that defies biological truth.”
The ruling applies pending a decision by a higher court should the case go to appeal, or a judgement on the
merits of the case.
Edited by: Zac Crellin
DW News
