You can still get a passport with your new legal name
Even if you can’t get the correct gender marker, you can still get a passport with your legal name. If you don’t have a passport, it is still worth doing so.
If you are able to get a passport, you have everything you need to leave the country.
By Jane Migliara Brigham
Even as the current administration has revoked the ability of trans people to get a passport with the correct gender marker, it is still possible to obtain a passport with your legal name. If your name has been legally changed, you can get that name on your United States passport.
This was confirmed by Bluesky user Progesteronipizza, who in November became the first documented case of a trans person to be forced to show proof of her “biological sex assigned at birth”. She has since been issued a new passport with her new legal name, but without the correct sex marker.
If you support our coverage, consider subscribing to The Needle as a Gold tier supporter, at $20 a month- you'll get access to all content! For a limited time, you can get half off your first three months!
This is the result of the recent Supreme Court decision Orr v. Trump, which confirmed the right of the State Department to only issue passports corresponding with a person’s sex at birth.
Crucially, that Supreme Court decision does not mention what to do about legal name changes. As a result, the State Department has not restricted what name a person can get on their passport, allowing people with legal name changes to have these reflected on their passports.
This means that if you are able to get a passport, you have everything you need to leave the country. You will have access to a picture that reflects your current appearance, and the name that you normally use. The only thing you would lack is a proper gender marker.
Under normal circumstances, passports are legally valid so long as 1) the person checking them can verify that you are the person that corresponds to the passport, and 2) the passport is not expired. If you can get your name changed on the passport, you can fulfill the first requirement. If you can pay the meager cost of a new passport, you can fulfill the second requirement.
That is all that trans people need to travel internationally. Even with the new discriminatory passports, this is still possible.
💡
💉Take Your Shot 💉
Even with the news restrictions it is still worth it to get your legal name changed and to have that reflected on your passport. An overview of the process can be found HERE:
Even with the news restrictions it is still worth it to get your legal name changed and to have that reflected on your passport. An overview of the process can be found HERE:
Members Discussion