The U.S. State Department has reportedly decided to suspend all passport applications requesting an “X” gender marker or any change to an existing gender marker, according to an email sent by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to his team on Thursday.
The email, initially reported by The Guardian, instructs staff to “suspend any application requesting an X [gender] marker” and to “suspend any application where the applicant is seeking to change their [gender] marker.”
This new passport policy comes shortly after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that declared there are only two genders: male and female. The order, aimed at the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, mandates that federal documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, “accurately reflect the holder’s [gender].”
The email further stated, “The policy of the United States is that an individual’s [gender] is not changeable.” Additional guidance regarding existing passports with an X marker will be provided “via other channels,” Rubio added.
In 2022, the State Department began issuing passports with an X marker after a prolonged legal battle led by Dana Zzyym, a U.S. Navy veteran who sued in 2015 after being denied a passport with a gender-neutral option.
Since then, applicants had been allowed to choose their gender marker. Passports already issued with an X marker will remain valid, but the White House informed NOTUS this week that individuals will no longer be able to renew documents with X markers. The department has yet to clarify how individuals who hold such passports, or those who have previously changed their markers, will handle future applications.
As of Thursday, the application page on the State Department’s website still listed the X marker.
{Matzav.com}