Trans People Barred from Obtaining Accurate Passports by Supreme Court

Today, the Supreme Court allowed the State Department to continue its policy of only issuing passports with gender markers which correspond to the gender a person was assigned at birth.

The decision was issued by the Shadow Docket, a method used by the court to quickly issue rulings while avoiding scrutiny on controversial legal questions.

In its decision, the court claims that “the government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment.” They insist that this is not intended to lead to discriminatory treatment towards any group of people, and that the claims of the plaintiff that the policy harms trans people are unfounded.

The decision effectively bans all trans people from obtaining passports which are accurate to their current sex and/or presentation. 

While the decision does not affect the validity of current passports, including those of trans people with gender markers which are accurate, it will prevent them from obtaining new passports with accurate information. When trans people go to renew their passport, the gender marker will be reverted to whatever was on their birth certificate at the time of their birth.  

The Supreme Court has issued the final legal word on the policy, which was enacted in the first days of the Trump administration, and which has been the subject of lawsuits ever since.  

Seeing as the policy originates from an executive order, we can expect to see it stand for at least as long as the Trump administration stands.  

Now that trans people cannot obtain accurate identification to the standards used by all foreign countries, it remains to be seen whether they can travel abroad at all.