A US federal appeals court on Thursday confirmed an injunction preventing the US State Department from enforcing a policy directive from then-President Donald Trump that aimed to prevent transgender and nonbinary Americans from obtaining passports reflecting their gender identities.
About the Transgender Passport Policy
This decision follows a series of legal cases tied to an executive order Trump issued on January 20, instructing the government to recognize only male and female biological genders. Under President Joe Biden’s administration, individuals had the option to choose “X” as a neutral sex indicator on new passport applications, in addition to “M” or “F” for male or female. This policy allowed candidates to update the sex designation on their passports for three decades before that. However, after Trump ordered the State Department to issue passports that “accurately reflect the holder’s sex,” applicants were required to provide their “biological sex at birth,” limiting them to male, female descriptions only, without allowing self-identification of gender.
Legal Action Against Trump’s Policy
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit, arguing that this policy unfairly prevented transgender, nonbinary, and intersex individuals from obtaining passports reflecting their gender identities. A district judge, Julia Kobick, agreed, finding the policy arbitrary and based on an “irrational prejudice” toward trans Americans that violated their constitutional rights. Initially, the injunction covered six plaintiffs, but it was expanded after the lawsuit gained class action status.
Rejection of Trump Administration’s Appeal
The Trump administration appealed against the injunction, but a three-judge panel at the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, Massachusetts concluded that the government failed to address Kobick’s conclusion that Trump’s policy demonstrated “unconstitutional animus toward transgender Americans.” The judges noted that the government could not justify implementing the injunction suspension, citing the immediate and irreparable harms individuals would face due to the new policy.
There has been no immediate response from the White House or State Department.
Editor: Dmytro Hubenko
Source: https://www.dw.com/en/us-court-rejects-trump-transgender-passport-appeal/a-73887209?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
