I cherish the X on my driver’s license, but on Feb. 5, I applied for a new passport with a different gender marker. It wasn’t something I wanted to do.
The State Department is no longer accepting applications for passports with X gender markers. According to its updated website, it will only issue passports with a sex marker matching “the customer's biological sex at birth.”
These changes are in response to an executive order issued on Jan. 20, which rejects the idea of gender identity and defines sex as an “immutable biological classification.”
Ryan Larsen is the executive director of Western Washington University’s Office of Global Engagement, which sends students and faculty all over the world.
His office is used to supporting students through the passport application process. But on Jan. 23, a new challenge presented itself.
“Secretary Rubio issued an internal communication to the passport office staff at the State Department that they were no longer allowed to process applications using the X gender marker,” Larsen said.
As a result, the Office of Global Engagement had to update its passport resources page.
Despite the federal changes, Larsen said that his office is still dedicated to helping trans and non-binary students.
“We want those students to come to our office if they're interested in having a study abroad experience, and we'll work with them to find somewhere around the world where they'll be welcome,” Larsen said.
In 2021, the State Department issued the first X-marked U.S. passport after a six-year legal battle fought on behalf of Dana Zzyym, an intersex and non-binary Navy veteran.
Attorneys at Lambda Legal, a law firm dedicated to protecting and advancing LGBTQ rights, argued the winning case. Carl Charles is one of their attorneys.
“Regrettably, as many of us sort of anticipated, the Trump administration went after this policy immediately,” Charles said. “Not because the system doesn't work or it's not possible, but because it goes against the Trump administration's gender ideology.”
For that reason, I had intended to get my passport application before the new administration took office. However, because my new passport required both a name and gender marker change, I needed to schedule an in-person appointment. The earliest I could get in was Feb. 5, about two weeks after the executive order was issued.
“Those two weeks were pretty scary for a lot of trans people in various situations related to passports,” Charles said.
In less than a month, over 800 people contacted Lambda Legal’s help desk about passport-related issues.
Individuals weren’t the only ones scrambling. Passport offices and other organizations across the country had to suddenly adjust their policies to reflect the demands of the executive order.
“An unsurprising amount of chaos ensued,” Charles said. “When you tell people to just suspend a process for which there has been previously very clear guidelines, you're going to end up with disparate interpretations.”
Public Comment Period
On Feb. 18, the State Department issued a notice regarding changes to one of its passport application forms.
On Feb. 20, they opened three public comment periods related to the elimination of self-attestation of gender identity on those forms.
As a result of these changes, trans and non-binary people will be required to have identification that reflects their sex assigned at birth rather than their lived identity.
As of March 15, there have been 22,821 comments submitted on the changes to the DS-5504, 25,306 comments on changes to the DS-82 form, and 41,384 comments on changes to the DS-11 form.
“The fact that the comment period has even been opened is significant,” Charles said. “I think we can't take for granted that this administration is willing to abide by any rules … although, it does appear a little bit of an ad hoc.”
Typically, comment periods are opened to receive input before a change gets made, not after.
According to Charles, this comment period is also shorter than what is required under the 1995 Paperwork Reduction Act — cut down from 60 to 30 days.
“It's worth asking why that comment period was reduced,” Charles said.
There are only a handful of days remaining to leave a comment. Those interested in leaving a comment may do so through reginfo.gov.
Leaving unique comments, Charles said, is better than using copy-pasted messages from advocacy groups.
“Typically — and I say typically, because we are somewhat not in a typical moment — but typically, the requirement is that the government must respond to every unique comment about a regulatory change,” Charles said. “So, the more unique comments there are, the better, right? Because it will require the government's attention and review of those submissions.”
Larsen, the study abroad director at Western, says the recent changes have made it harder for his office to support trans and non-binary students. However, he has hope for the future.
“This erasure that we're experiencing in the United States right now isn't going to work,” Larsen said. “It's gonna make things difficult. It's gonna make things so painful, but trans folks have existed in every culture for time immemorial. They're not going away. And we just need to continue supporting them, loving them and including them as a really important part of our communities.”
Oren Roberts (they/them) is the opinions editor for The Front this fall. Previously, they wrote for The Front as a City News reporter. They are a senior studying news/editorial journalism. When not writing or editing, they enjoy brewing kombucha, taking long walks and photographing the beauty of Bellingham. You can reach them at westernfront.opeditor@gmail.com
