It also impacts the passports of non-binary individuals. The Biden Administration had permitted those who wished to list ‘X’ as their gender on passports to do so. A 2021 study showed that 1.2 million Americans identified as non-binary. When the first X gender passport was issued in October 2021, envoy Jessica Stern hailed it as a “momentous step”, stating that “The addition of a third gender marker propels the US forward toward ensuring that our administrative systems account for the diversity of gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics among US citizens”.
However, in response to Trump’s new executive order, the US State Department is now freezing X passport applications. Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed staff members in an email, which The Guardian obtained, that “the policy of the United States is that an individual’s sex is not changeable”. He further stated that “Sex, and not gender, will be used” on official documents like passports and consular report of birth abroad paperwork.
