According to a federal judge, the Trump administration has lost the case
It has been announced today that a federal judge has ruled to block Donald Trump’s plans to ban passports that recognize non-binary gender as a status.
Since returning to the White House, he has made many changes, including reversing many of the policies that his predecessor, Joe Biden, introduced during his tenure there.
After being reinstated as commander-in-chief, he signed hundreds of executive orders to tweak US regulations on healthcare and immigration, among other things.
Also, Trump proposed a change in the way that members of the LGBT*Q+ community who identify as non-binary, as well as inters3x individuals, list their s3x on travel documents.
In his time as vice president, Biden allowed people applying for passports to choose ‘X’ as their gender rather than having the option of ‘M’ or ‘F’ for males or females.
This rule was in effect as of October 2021, but Trump wanted to repeal it as quickly as possible when he became President again in January 2017.
On his first day in office, he signed several executive orders, one of which was entitled ‘Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.’
In effect, this narrows the definition of gender in the US by stating that a person can either be a male or a female but rejects the idea that one could transition into a different s3x than what they were born with.
According to the article, the United States of America adheres to the principle that there are two s3xes, male and female and that these s3xes are not negotiable but are based upon fundamental and incontrovertible reality.
As part of the order, it was also stated that changes would be implemented requiring that government-issued identification documents, such as passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the holder’s s3x.
This executive order froze passport applications for those who ticked the ‘X’ box on their passport application forms.
The Guardian reported that Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, had sent an email to State Department staff saying: “It is the policy of the United States that an individual’s s3x is not changeable.”
It has been reported that employees were instructed to “suspend the application of any applicant requesting a s3x marker of X, as well as to suspend any application of the applicant seeking to change their s3x marker” from Trump’s revised definition of gender.
Despite this, a federal judge has now blocked the Trump administration from implementing this policy, following a lawsuit that was lodged by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of several transgender and non-binary individuals in response to the Trump administration’s announcement.
The ACLU argued that the new passport policy would make it difficult for people to obtain accurate passports and that the lawyer representing the ACLU, Sruti Swaminathan, claimed that the new policy ‘demonised’ these applicants.
“All Americans have a right to accurate identification documents, and this policy invites harassment, discrimination, and violence against transgender Americans who are now unable to obtain or renew a passport that matches the gender they identify with,” Swaminathan said.
A spokesperson for the White House insisted that the new rules would not violate the equal protection guarantees of the Constitution and that the plaintiffs in the case would still be able to apply for passports, just not be able to use ‘X’ as an option when applying.
US District Judge Julia Kobick, appointed by Vice President Biden, granted a preliminary injunction in favor of the ACLU’s application.
In explaining the reasons behind her stance, she stated, as reported by the Independent, that the Executive Order and the Passport Policy discriminate against passport applicants based on their gender and, therefore, should be reviewed under intermediate judicial scrutiny.
In his decision, Judge Kobick said that the government must demonstrate that its actions are substantially related to a significant governmental interest to meet this standard. As a result, the government has failed to meet this standard.
In addition, the judge stated that the plaintiffs had demonstrated that they were able to prove that the new passport policy and executive order are based on irrational prejudice toward transgender Americans and, therefore, violate our nation’s constitutional commitment to equal protection for all citizens.
Li Nowlin-Sohl, a lawyer and a member of the ACLU’s legal team, said in a statement that Judge Kobick’s decision was a “historic victory” for the ACLU.
According to the Associated Press, this decision represents a significant victory against discrimination and for equal justice under the law,” said Li Nowlin-Sohl.
This is also a historic victory in fighting this administration’s efforts to drive transgender people out of public life. The State Department’s policy is a baseless barrier that denies transgender and inters3x people the dignity they deserve.”