What’s it like to be a transgender American right now? “We’re scared, quite frankly,” Dr. Devon Ojeda, senior national organizer with Advocates for Trans Equality, tells Frommer’s.
Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has seemed determined to restrict the rights of trans citizens. One of the first executive orders issued by the new administration in January asserted that “it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female,” and they “are not changeable.”
In addition to affecting trans people in matters related to health care, education, sports, and many other aspects of daily life, the Trump administration’s policies have made freedom of travel more difficult for trans folks, too (likewise for anybody who’s nonbinary or intersex).
The Trump Administration’s Anti-Trans Passport Changes
In keeping with Trump’s order, the U.S. State Department suspended all passport applications seeking to change a sex marker as well as all applications requesting an “X” sex marker instead of “M” or “F.”
As Ojeda puts it, the U.S. government wants “to force us to document our sex assigned at birth instead of our gender identity.” According to Advocates for Trans Equality, a nonprofit focused on political and legal rights for transgender people in the U.S., the passport changes amount to an effort “to undermine access to passports for trans people”—and, by extension, to limit their freedom to travel.
The State Department’s ultimate goal, in Ojeda’s view, is to “basically say people commit fraud by saying that I’m a man when I was assigned female at birth, for example, and make it difficult for trans people to transition legally.”
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the government on the grounds that the new passport policy violates the constitutional rights of trans and nonbinary people by wrongfully withholding travel documents from U.S. citizens or forcing them to use documents containing faulty info.
Advocates for Trans Equality, meanwhile, launched its Freedom to Fly campaign designed to flood the State Department’s comment portal during the brief public-comments period for the rule changes.
To participate, you’ll need to act fast: The State Department’s deadline for receiving comments about passport renewals, name changes, and corrections is Thursday, March 20, at 11:59pm EST.
The Dangers of Traveling While Trans
In addition to being discriminatory, the Trump administration’s passport rules for trans travelers put them in danger, Ojeda argues.
According to a recent survey conducted by Advocates of Trans Equality, “22% of respondents reported being verbally harassed, assaulted, or denied services after presenting ID that doesn’t align with their presentation,” Ojeda told us.
“When [border security officials] see an F [on your ID] and then they look up and they see a dude with a beard, how do you explain that,” he says.
The current political climate has already had a chilling effect on travel among members of the trans community, according to Ojeda.
“Me personally, I was talking about going back to visit Peru this year,” he says. “I’m a trans immigrant, a Peruvian American. I was born in Lima, Peru. And I’m worried that if I go visit some family this year, I won’t be able to come back.”
Ojeda’s U.S. ID documents are currently all in order, he says—“I updated my passport right after the election”—but he’s still nervous.
“It makes me feel like they’re shrinking our world,” he says. “I had family members I wanted to see this year and those plans were kind of gone as soon as Trump took office and started changing the rules.”
Advice and Resources for Trans Travelers
For the record, trans and nonbinary Americans who already have unexpired passports with “X” gender markers or sex markers matching their gender identity (even if it differs from the sex assigned at birth) may continue to travel using those documents for the time being.
But “if you are wanting a new passport or renewing a passport, I would not put your actual gender identity on there right now” if you’re trans, Ojeda advises. It’s a matter of safety, he says, even though “it sucks and it’s invalidating” to settle for identity documents that don’t properly identify you.
Biometric technology in passports can now record unique personal details such as iris scans and fingerprints. With that additional data now being stored via microchip, many other nations began issuing passports that reflect gender identity, or they provide the option for a gender-neutral designation, putting U.S. documentation in conflict with standard practice elsewhere.
Ojeda recommends trans people “talk to a lawyer before renewing or applying for any IDs or before you travel internationally,” and to “accept that you may not get the gender identity marker you want on your documents.”
Legal resources for trans, nonbinary, and intersex people are available from civil rights organizations such as Lambda Legal, Lawyers for Good Government, the ACLU, and Ojeda’s own Advocates for Trans Equality.
On the websites maintained by those groups, you’ll find know-your-rights info, advocacy opportunities, and directories of firms providing legal assistance.
If you’re worried about costs, pro bono legal services are available. For help finding an affordable attorney to talk to or to ask any other questions relating to LGBTQ+ matters and the law, contact the Lambda Legal help desk.
“I don’t want to scare people,” Ojeda says, “but I do want people to think about risk assessment. Have a plan where you can identify someone legal to turn to” in case you run into trouble while traveling. “Write phone numbers on your arm. Travel with a buddy. Make sure you have a witness.”
What Can Non-Trans People Do?
Beyond submitting comments to the State Department registering disapproval of the changes to passports for trans people—and, again, the deadline is fast approaching so TICKTOCK—Ojeda advises cisgender allies to reach out to legislators at the state and federal level to let them know where you stand.
Actually, you might want to think about practicing that kind of noisy allyship every chance you get, Ojeda says.
“Be loud,” he urges. “If you’re in the TSA line and you see a trans person getting harassed, pull your phone out and record or intervene. We have to do less of compliance and more of being brave. That means stepping in when trans people are faced with discrimination and violence.”
To participate in Advocates for Trans Equality’s Freedom to Fly campaign by submitting a comment to the U.S. State Department about anti-trans passport measures, go to TransEquality.org. The federal government will accept public comments on this matter up to 11:59pm EST on Thursday, March 20.