Human rights organisation urges US trans people to update passports ‘as soon as possible’

Human rights organisation American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has urged US transgender people to update their passports “as soon as possible”. 

Last month, a judge blocked President Donald Trump’s anti-trans passport policy, which attempted to deny passports with correct gender markers to a group of trans and non-binary people. Trans and nonbinary people, including Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer, reported receiving inaccurate passports after the executive order was issued. 

Last week, the US State Department started to comply with the partial preliminary injunction issued by District Judge Julia Kobik, as per court documents and an update from the ACLU. “[W]e encourage class members to follow the instructions on the State Department’s website to access that relief as soon as possible,” the group said.

Last Wednesday (2 July), the US government released a new attestation form, as required in the June order, which is currently required for those requesting a gender marker change on their passport or birth certificate. 

The ACLU wrote in the update that those requesting an “X” gender marker should leave the “sex” field of their application blank and mark the “X” on the attestation form instead. Online forms have not restored the option for a gender marker, though. 

The court order did not explicitly include intersex people in the “X” class definition, but intersex people can apply for an “X” marker as long as their “gender identity is different from their sex assigned at birth”, the ACLU stated.

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