So, when I first decided to switch up the gender marker on all my documents back in the spring of 2022, it was kind of a big deal. I mean, the U.S. was going through this whole phase of acknowledging trans people legally, which was pretty cool. A year before that, the Biden Administration was like, “Hey, you can totally pick your own gender on your passport now.” And they even added an option for nonbinary folks to mark their sex as “X.” It was a real show of liberal tolerance, even though they didn’t go all the way with trans health care rights. But hey, at least we could self-identify on federal paperwork. That’s gotta count for something, right?
But then there were all these states popping up trying to make it harder for trans people to change their sex on stuff like driver’s licenses and birth certificates. I was born in Indiana, which is a red state with Mike Pence vibes, so I was low-key stressing about updating my birth certificate. I eventually got it done, but only after jumping through some hoops and getting a court order. Other states, though, like Arkansas and North Carolina, are real sticklers about it, demanding proof of some supposed sex change. Like, what even counts as that these days?
Anyway, fast forward to Trump coming in with an executive order, talking about defending women from “gender ideology extremism” and bringing back “biological truth” to the government. He basically said that I.D.s had to show your sex as assigned at conception. Which, like, technically means we’re all female at first, right? Trump clearly doesn’t know much about biology, but he’s more about using it to push his “anti-woke” agenda. And he’s made a bunch of anti-trans moves since taking office, erasing years of hard-won civil rights progress.
The whole “sex” vs. “gender” thing has been a mess. Like, now gender is seen as this sketchy ideology trying to erase the whole idea of sex being fixed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio even said that an individual’s sex can’t change, according to some email he sent out. And Trump’s executive order was all about how letting trans and gender-neutral folks have proper passports was like, super corrosive to America’s “validity.” Not really sure what that means, but it sounds pretty serious, right?
And then there’s the whole passport drama. People rushed to update their passports before Trump’s order kicked in, only to find out that the passport office wasn’t all that keen on helping them out. Some even had their applications put on hold indefinitely. And those who tried to fix their documents post-order got them back with their biological sex slapped back on there. Hunter Schafer, the trans actress from “Euphoria,” went through this whole mess and ended up with a male gender marker on her new passport. Talk about a reality check, right?
But it’s not just the famous folks getting hit. Regular trans people are struggling too. Mary Fox went to get a passport in L.A. post-Trump order and was told they couldn’t issue her one at all. They took away all her documents and left her wondering if she could even leave the country. It’s a real nightmare out there for trans folks just trying to travel.
The whole situation is a mess, and it’s not just affecting Americans. Bells Larsen, a trans Canadian musician, had to cancel his U.S. tour because of visa issues related to the gender marker stuff. The legal and economic fallout from these policies is just starting to show, and it’s not looking good.
The ACLU has been swamped with calls from trans people and their families since Trump’s order went into effect. They even filed a lawsuit challenging it. But who knows how the courts will respond. Judges have blocked some of Trump’s other anti-trans moves, but it’s still a tough battle.
At the end of the day, it’s not just about passports or legal battles. It’s about how trans people are treated in society. The attacks on us are part of a bigger crackdown on rights and freedoms. And it’s not just the famous folks who are at risk. We’re all in this together, fighting for our right to exist in a world that often doesn’t want us around. But we’ll keep fighting, no matter what.
