Topline
A federal judge has ordered the State Department to revert to the policy in place before President Trump retook office, allowing U.S. citizens to self-select a gender designation that includes “X”—instead of either male or female—on their passport applications.
U.S. passport applications included "X" as an option from April 2022 until President Trump banned it ... More
On Tuesday, a federal judge in Boston blocked the Trump administration from limiting passport sex markers to “male” and “female,” saying the State Department’s policy “likely violates the constitutional rights of thousands of Americans.”
Since President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January declaring the government would only recognize “two sexes, male and female,” the U.S. State Department stopped issuing U.S. passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBAs) with an X marker and has only issued passports with markers that “match the customer’s biological sex at birth.”
Trump’s executive order reversed a decision taken by the Biden administration in April 2022 to make an "X gender" marker available for U.S. passports.U.S. passports issued with the X marker between 2022 and 2025 remain valid until their expiration date, according to the State Department website.
The ruling broadens a previous injunction from Kobick that applied to six people, and now includes all transgender or non-binary people who don’t have a valid passport, those whose passport is expiring within one year, and those who need to reapply for a passport because theirs was lost or stolen or because they need to change their name or sex designation.
The State Department did not respond to questions regarding a timetable for when U.S. passport applications would again include X as an option.
The U.S. issued its first passport with an X gender marker in October 2021 to a military veteran who is intersex, joining more than 10 countries that offered a third gender option on passports. Between April 2022 and January 2025, thousands of U.S. passports were issued with the X sex marker—and those remained valid even after Trump issued the executive order. In addition, 22 states and the District of Columbia include the X marker as an option for residents applying for driver’s licenses. Of the remaining 28 states, there are varying degrees of difficulty built into the process of changing the gender marker on a driver’s license. For example, 10 states require proof of surgery, court order or amended birth certificate. Only four states—Florida, Kansas, Tennessee and Texas—do not offer any process for updating the gender marker on driver's licenses, according to data from the Movement Advancement Project. In addition, 17 U.S. states allow individuals to update the gender marker on birth certificates, indicating a non-binary or gender-neutral option.
Many countries include the gender-neutral marker as an option on passports. The International Civil Aviation Organization, which sets the standards for machine-readable passports, provides three options: female, male or X (for unspecified). European countries that offer all three include Austria, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Malta and The Netherlands. In North America, Canada and Mexico offer option X to passport holders. Other countries around the world that provide the gender-neutral sex marker include Argentina, Australia, Colombia, India, Nepal, New Zealand and Pakistan. Earlier this year, several European countries and Canada alerted their citizens about tightened restrictions for travelers entering the United States, warning that travelers who have changed sex or identified themselves as non-binary with an X on their passports could face detention or expulsion under the White House's policy of recognizing only two sexes.
1.3 million. That’s how many adults in the U.S. identify as transgender or gender nonconforming, according to a brief published in January from the Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA Law School that researches sexual orientation and gender identity.
Judge Kobick’s ruling goes into effect “immediately,” but it’s unclear how quickly the State Department will comply. The Trump administration will likely appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals and the case may ultimately be decided by the United States Supreme Court.
“We encourage all class members impacted by this policy to take advantage of this injunctive relief and we will do everything we can to block this policy permanently,” Li Nowlin-Sohl, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
Trans Actress Hunter Schafer Says Her Passport Now Lists Her Sex As Male After Trump Executive Order (Forbes)