The U.S. government now only recognizes two sexes.
Transgender influencer Zaya Perysian shared a video about receiving her passport from the U.S. State Department, which listed her as male, despite her identifying as female.
“All my other documents have been updated to female, and I have been surgically updated to female,” she said in the video. However, the document that accompanied her passport stated that the sex marker was corrected to match government records. “I have undergone my full medical transition. There is nothing about me anymore that represents male on the exterior whatsoever.”
@zayaperysian And so it’s begun…🙃 #trans #passport ♬ original sound – Zaya
Perysian, who has undergone gender-affirming surgery, explained in another TikTok video that the State Department relied on her old passport, which identified her as male. She also stated that she plans to take legal action.
@zayaperysian Y’all finally got under my skin😢……😂😂😂 #greenscreen #passport #transandproud ♬ 10 minutes! Fashionable and bright jazz piano(1127989) – nyansuke
Two Sexes Policy
On his inauguration day, President Donald Trump signed an executive order stating that the U.S. government would recognize only two sexes—male and female—and that they were not interchangeable. Secretary of State Marco Rubio subsequently directed the State Department to suspend all passport applications requesting a gender marker change, as well as those who did not select male or female. Rubio’s memo stated that the department would no longer issue passports with an “X” gender marker.
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“In agency documents, ‘sex’ and not ‘gender’ shall be used. Further, it is specified that the policy of the United States is that an individual’s sex is not changeable,” the memo said. However, previously issued passports with an “X” remain valid.
The rollback of gender marker options is expected to impact thousands of Americans who currently hold “X” passports. Many passport applications are now stalled at the State Department, with supporting documents in limbo. It is unclear what will happen to these pending applications.
Carl Charles, an attorney with Lambda Legal, told the San Francisco Standard that some passport offices are confiscating birth certificates and state IDs. “In this instance, it is really the government that is setting up circumstances where trans people will be subjected to more violence and discrimination on the basis of not having identity documents that accurately reflect who they are.”
Additionally, gender-affirming care for minors has been suspended, and parents who wish to take their children out of the country for medical treatment are facing additional challenges due to the new passport policies.
In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, professor Darren Rosenblum argued that gender markers on passports help border agents do their jobs and that an “X” marker costs the government nothing.
“Imagine what it was like for agents when I would pass through as an M, with my hair, nails, scarves, jewelry, and dresses. They were perplexed: Is this an F or an M? They’d question me for a few minutes and then keep me moving. This had nothing to do with a phobia, but rather the inefficiency of M and F had made their job harder,” Rosenblum wrote.
Related: Meet the Transgender Woman Who Traveled Through Brazil in a Replica ‘Priscilla’ Bus
‘X’ Passports
The first American passport with an “X” gender marker was issued in 2021 to Dana Zzyym after a years-long legal battle. In 2022, then-President Joe Biden introduced an option for passport applicants to select “X,” marking a milestone for gender-nonconforming Americans.
However, the U.S. was far from the first country to recognize nonbinary or transgender identities on official documents. Australia has allowed citizens to choose male, female, or “X” on passports since 2011. Nepal issued its first gender-neutral passport in 2015 with an “O” marker. Germany became the first European country in 2013 to allow parents to select a third gender on birth registrations. India recognized a third gender on all official documents in 2015. Canada introduced gender-neutral passports in 2017, the same year Pakistan also allowed transgender individuals to select “X” on passports. Malta introduced a neutral option in 2017, followed by the Netherlands, Argentina, and Austria in 2018.
While LGBTQ+ travelers already face discrimination in many parts of the world, human rights activists warn that the recent policy change could further endanger transgender individuals by making it harder for them to obtain accurate identification documents.
