12 state attorneys general weigh in for transgender passports

Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald on Mar 18, 2025

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A Trump campaign promise followed by a “two sexes” executive order could place transgender residents at risk and may violate state laws, according to a letter from 12 state attorneys general.

President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 declaration that the U.S. government will officially recognize only two sexes and a subsequent decision by the State Department to implement his order on travel documents could “conflict” with existing state transgender protection laws and “expose our transgender, nonbinary, and intersex residents to harm, including harassment, discrimination, and negative mental health outcomes,” the AGs wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday.

“All Americans deserve identification documents, including U.S. Passports, that accurately reflect their identity; the States write to express our strong disapproval of the proposed changes,” they wrote.

Trump’s Executive Order, titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government” and signed into effect on his first day in office, declares that “it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.”

“These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality. Under my direction, the Executive Branch will enforce all sex-protective laws to promote this reality, and the following definitions shall govern all Executive interpretation of and application of Federal law and administration policy,” the president’s order read, in part.

This is a sharp reversal from the prior administration. President Joe Biden’s State Department, on Transgender Day of Visibility in late March of 2022, announced a soon-to- be introduced option for passport applicants to use an “X” indicator for their gender instead of male or female. Rubio instructed the State Department to stop using the designation in late January.

According to the AGs’ letter, the federal government has made allowances for transgender Americans for decades. Tossing this designation reverses “nearly 45 years of federal policy.”

The letter was signed by the top law enforcement officers of New York, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

The American Civil Liberties Union, along with its Bay State chapter and the law firm Covington & Burling LLP, has filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts on behalf of seven people who are unable to obtain passports indicating the same gender as their state-issued documentation.

Last week, the Trump administration filed a motion to block a request for a preliminary injunction against the new policy, saying that the plaintiffs in the case have failed to demonstrate irreparable harm from the new rules, which haven’t prevented them from actually getting a passport.

“Plaintiffs have been traveling with a passport reflecting their birth sex for their entire lives,” lawyers for the Trump administration told the court.

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