Transgender Americans Urged to Update Passports Following Recent Injunction Over Gender Markers

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has urged transgender, non-binary, and intersex individuals in the United States to update their passports “as soon as possible,” following a significant legal development.

It follows ongoing issues for transgender Americans in the wake of sweeping anti-trans and LGBTIQIA+ legislation from the Trump Administration, that has need seen a positive injunction on the issue.

Transgender Americans continue to face passport problems

The call comes in the wake of a partial preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Julia Kobik, blocking the enforcement of a Trump-era policy that denied correct gender markers on U.S. passports.

The discriminatory policy had resulted in multiple transgender and non-binary applicants, among them Euphoria star Hunter Schafer and Drag Race stars Adore Delano and Aja, receiving inaccurate documents despite properly filed requests.

In a statement following the ruling, the ACLU advised:

“[W]e encourage class members to follow the instructions on the State Department’s website to access that relief as soon as possible.”

On July 2, the U.S. government released a new attestation form, now required for those seeking to amend the gender marker on their passports or birth certificates.

Under the updated guidelines, individuals seeking an “X” marker, which represents a non-binary or unspecified gender, should leave the “sex” field on the passport application blank and instead select “X” on the attestation form.

While these steps mark progress, online forms still do not provide the option to select a gender marker, creating further barriers for applicants.

The court order’s scope, though groundbreaking, remains imperfect.

While it applies to many in the transgender and non-binary communities, intersex individuals were not explicitly included.

However, according to the ACLU, intersex people may still apply for an “X” marker “as long as their ‘gender identity is different from their sex assigned at birth.’”

The ACLU also confirmed that applicants who received a passport with an incorrect gender marker after applying correctly can file for a correction using form DS-5504.

Importantly, there is no additional fee for this correction. A corrected birth certificate is not required, class members are entitled to self-select their gender marker regardless of what prior documents indicate.

This development follows years of advocacy from LGBTQIA+ organisations fighting for legal recognition of non-binary and intersex identities in federal documentation.

Under the Biden administration, policies had been introduced in 2021 to allow gender marker “X” on passports without medical documentation.

The Trump-era reversal, widely condemned by human rights groups, represented a significant rollback of trans rights.