The State Department froze all applications for passports marked with the third gender “X”
The US Department of State has suspended applications for passports with non-binary identification of the third gender “X” and change of gender identity in existing documents. This decision was made in accordance with the decree that US President Donald Trump signed on his first day in office, informs The Guardian.
The State Department has issued an order to stop processing all applications requesting an “X” gender marker and any applications to change the gender marker. This policy applies to both current and future passport requests.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed in an internal directive that all employees must follow the new rules, which require the use of “biological sex” instead of gender identity on federal documents. The text states that “a person’s gender is immutable” and should be defined exclusively as male or female.
Trump’s executive order, titled “Protecting Women from Gender Ideological Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth in the Federal Government,” requires all government identification documents to be based solely on biological sex.
Passports with non-binary identification “X”, which began to be issued in April 2022, remain valid. However, their renewal can become problematic. The White House said that instructions for already issued passports with an “X” marker will be provided separately.
