US Supreme Court Upholds Trump-Era Policy Blocking Gender Identity on Passports

The latest order follows the State Department’s appeal to lift a judge’s injunction

Digital Desk: In a significant development, the US Supreme Court granted the federal government on 6th November has  requested  to implement a Trump-era policy that  prevents transgender and nonbinary Americans to choose passport sex markers that reflect their gender identity. The move is a big triumph of the Trump administration on gender classification.

In a 6–3 ruling, the Court’s conservative majority allowed the policy to move forward while a lawsuit challenging it continues in a lower court. The order stays a lower court order that made the State Department resume providing the options of “male, female, or X on passports depending on the gender identity of the applicants.

The latest order follows the State Department’s appeal to lift a judge’s injunction that had blocked the enforcement of the policy, which mandates that passport sex markers correspond strictly to a person’s sex assigned at birth.

This policy stems from an executive order issued in January under former President Donald Trump, declaring that the United States would “recognize only two sexes, male and female,” determined by birth certificates and “biological classification.” The State Department later revised its passport policies to align with this directive eliminating the recognition of gender identities that did not fit the binary model.

The decision actually overturns decades long practice at the State Department. Since 1992, individuals were permitted to change passport sex designations with medical documentation, and under President Joe Biden’s administration in 2021, applicants could self-select their gender without documentation, with an additional “X” option introduced for nonbinary, intersex, and gender-nonconforming individuals.

The opposition party, declares that it was a significant blow to the gender rights in the US, a move that would limit the recognition and legalization of millions of the transgender and nonbinary citizens of the US.