This article requires pre-publication review by an uninvolved reviewer (one not substantially involved in writing the article). –Article last amended: Jan 22 at 11:47:43 UTC (history) |
| This article requires pre-publication review by an uninvolved reviewer (one not substantially involved in writing the article). –Article last amended: Jan 22 at 11:47:43 UTC (history) |
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
On the first day of Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th President of the United States, he declared that the United States government would only recognize male and female as sexes/genders, withdrawing the recognition of other genders. In addition to this, the option for people who consider themselves not male or female to choose the X option when putting their gender on a passport has been removed. It had already been speculated by news sources that changes would come to passports since the declaration.
At Trump’s inauguration on Monday, he declared that executive orders would immediately be made to remove inter-government diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, and that the recognition of more than two sexes/genders would be revoked and that only male and female would be legally recognized as sexes/genders. Trump announced at the inauguration, “I will end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based. As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”
An order, entitled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” was passed by Trump. The order revoked various rights for non-binary citizens, including the right to select the “X” option when asked for their gender on government identification documents, including passports; this right had been established by the Biden administration. The order declares the following:
“‘Sex’ is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of ‘gender identity.’ ‘Female’ means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell. ‘Male’ means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell. ‘Gender ideology’ replaces the biological category of sex with an ever-shifting concept of self-assessed gender identity, permitting the false claim that males can identify as and thus become women and vice versa, and requiring all institutions of society regard this false claim as true. ‘Gender identity’ reflects a fully internal and subjective sense of self, disconnected from biological reality and sex and existing on an infinite continuum, that does not provide a meaningful basis for identification and cannot be recognized as a replacement for sex.”
The US State Department website omitted the choice to choose a third gender on passport applications on Monday. Federal agencies have been ordered by Trump to “implement changes to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the holder’s sex.” They have also been ordered to “remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology, and shall cease issuing such statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other messages. Agency forms that require an individual’s sex shall list male or female, and shall not request gender identity. Agencies shall take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the federal funding of gender ideology.” Following the action, civil rights groups and groups advocating for the LGBT community spoke out, threatened legal action regarding the order, and warned that it will cause harm to the community and its members.
The first passport with the X option for gender identification was established in 2021, with the State Department under the Biden administration commenting that the action was representative of their commitment to supporting the “freedom, dignity, and equality” of all citizens, including LGBT people. Prior to the move, an intersex person living in Colorado, Dana Zzyym, had been involved in a long-lasting lawsuit with the State Department; Zzyym initially sued the Department in 2014 after their request for a passport with an identification option for non-binaries was refused.
Numerous other countries had the option of the “X” marker before the US and still have it to this day, including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, putting the US at odds with fellow Anglophone-majority countries.
