A federal judge in Boston has ordered the Trump
administration to issue passports reflecting the self-identified gender of six
transgender individuals, in a ruling that challenges a recent policy requiring
passports to display the sex assigned at birth.
U.S. District Judge Julia E. Kobick issued the
preliminary injunction on Friday, stating that the plaintiffs are likely to
succeed in their claims that the policy constitutes unconstitutional sex
discrimination under the Fifth Amendment and violates the Administrative
Procedure Act.
“The plaintiffs have been personally disadvantaged by
the government — they can no longer obtain a passport consistent with their
gender identity — because of their sex assigned at birth,” Judge Kobick wrote
in her ruling. “The passport policy does indeed impose a special disadvantage
on the plaintiffs due to their sex.”
The ruling marks a temporary victory for the six
plaintiffs, who sued after the U.S. State Department, following an executive
order from former President Donald J. Trump, reversed prior rules allowing
transgender people to choose gender markers on their passports. The order only
applies to the six individuals involved in the case and not to a seventh
plaintiff who already holds a valid passport with a gender marker that aligns
with his identity.
The Trump administration’s directive, issued earlier
this year, ordered federal agencies to limit official recognition of gender
identity. The State Department subsequently removed the option to select a
nonbinary “X” gender marker, which had been available since 2022, and resumed
requiring documentation aligned with birth-assigned sex.
Plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU), argued that having passports that do not align with
their gender identity exposes them to discrimination, scrutiny, and potential
danger. Two of the plaintiffs received passports that incorrectly listed their
gender as “F” or “M,” contrary to their application requests. Another was
informed that the “X” marker was no longer an option.
In defending the policy, government attorneys claimed
a need for uniformity across federal documents and minimized the impact on
transgender individuals, asserting they could continue traveling with existing
documents. However, Judge Kobick dismissed those arguments, stating that the
government had failed to demonstrate a compelling interest that justified
sex-based classification.
“The focus of the inquiry must be whether, as applied
to an individual, there exists a classification based on sex,” she wrote.
Judge Kobick also ruled that the State Department
likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act by changing a decades-long
policy without a clear explanation or acknowledgment of those who had relied on
it.
Since the early 1990s, transgender Americans had been
permitted to update their passport sex markers with proof of transition
surgery. That requirement was eased in 2010 to allow a doctor’s letter
confirming “appropriate clinical treatment.” In 2021, the department issued its
first gender-neutral passport, and by 2022, applicants could select “M,” “F,”
or “X,” with the application language changed from “sex” to “gender.”
Judge Kobick, an appointee of former President Joe
Biden, concluded that the abrupt reversal lacked a factual basis and failed to
consider the impact on the transgender community.
The ruling allows the six plaintiffs to receive
updated passports while the broader legal challenge continues.
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