On Tuesday, a federal judge expanded an injunction that was issued in the Orr v. Trump case to allow transgender or nonbinary individuals to identify with a “X” gender marker on passports. Originally, the injunction only covered the six transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The court’s new ruling states that the X gender marker will be made available to anyone applying for: a new passport; a change to the sex designation or name on an existing platform; a replacement passport; or a passport renewal. This also covers individuals who were sent new passports under the Trump administration, where the sex designation had been changed to that of the person’s sex assigned at birth. Li Nowlin-Soh, the Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project said: “This decision is a critical victory against discrimination and for equal justice under the law, but it’s also a historic win in the fight against this administration’s efforts to drive transgender people out of public life.
The State Department’s policy is a baseless barrier for transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans and denies them the dignity we all deserve. 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.”
