Trump’s ‘two sexes’ order removes ‘X’ gender passport option

Donald Trump’s order declaring that the US government will only recognise “two genders” will up-end a pioneering passport change.

Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that the US government will only recognise “two genders” will up-end a pioneering passport change that allowed people who identify as neither male nor female to select “X” instead.

Speaking at his inaugural address on Monday, Mr Trump announced “immediate” executive actions to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the US government, and recognise “only two”, biologically distinct sexes.

“I will end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” Mr Trump said.

“We will forge a society that is colourblind 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.”

The order later signed by Mr Trump in the Oval Office, titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”, overturns, among other things, a Biden-era policy that allowed people to select an option other than male or female on government-issued identification documents including passports.

Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th President. Picture: Morry Gash/AFP

“‘Sex’ shall refer to an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female,” the order states.

“‘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 to 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 recognised as a replacement for sex.”

Transgender rights activists in Melbourne. Picture: Diego Fedele/Getty Images

The US issued its first passport with the “X” gender designation in 2021 under President Joe Biden, in a move the State Department said at the time reflected its “commitment to promoting the freedom, dignity, and equality of all people — including LGBTQI+ persons”.

The change came after long-running legal battle brought by Dana Zzyym, an intersex Colorado resident who first sued the State Department in 2014 after an application for a passport with the non-binary gender marker, rather than the traditional “M” or “F”, was denied.

Australia first introduced the “X” marker for passports in 2011 and a number of other countries including New Zealand and Canada also offer the third gender option.

“This amendment makes life easier and significantly reduces the administrative burden for sex and gender diverse people who want a passport that reflects their gender and physical appearance,” then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said at the time.

Mr Trump’s executive order directs federal agencies to “implement changes to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the holder’s sex”.

Dana Zzyym’s US passport issued with ‘X’ as the sex. Picture: Hida Viloria

It also orders agencies 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,” it says. “Agencies shall take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the federal funding of gender ideology.”

On Monday night, the US State Department website removed the option to pick a third gender marker on passport applications.

Civil rights and LGBT advocacy groups have flagged legal challenges to the President’s action — one of a slew of executive orders Mr Trump signed within hours of entering office — while warning the change “will cause harm”.

LGBT groups have warned the changes will ‘cause harm’. Picture: Leonardo Munoz/AFP

Kelley Robinson, president of the country’s largest LGBT advocacy group, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), said Monday’s executive actions “targeting the LGBTQ+ community serve no other purpose than to hurt our families and our communities”.

“The incoming administration is trying to divide our communities in the hope that we forget what makes us strong,” she said.

“But we refuse to back down or be intimidated. We are not going anywhere. And we will fight back against these harmful provisions with everything we’ve got.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) previously pledged to take the Trump administration to court “wherever we can”, warning the new President is trying to “erase transgender people from public life entirely”.

Chase Strangio, an ACLU lawyer who last month became the first transgender person to argue a case before the US Supreme Court, wrote on Instagram that Mr Trump’s executive orders “do not and cannot change the law” but were “glorified press releases designed to create confusion and chaos”.

ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio, left. Picture: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/AFP

“My resistance will come through denying the administration the chaos they seek,” Strangio said. “It will come by remembering that their plans and rhetoric are just the regurgitated policies that we have long defied.”

Janson Wu from The Trevor Project suicide prevention group said the “anti-transgender executive order” and others like it targeting the transgender and non-binary community “will cause harm — especially for young people”.

“We know, from our research and from what LGBTQ+ young people tell us, that policies like these take a damaging toll on LGBTQ+ young people’s mental health,” he said.

“Supporting young people’s health and wellbeing transcends politics, and we urge all elected officials and the media to understand the dangers that anti-LGBTQ+ policies and rhetoric pose for LGBTQ+ youth across the country.”

Speaking to Democracy Now on Tuesday, Strangio said the changes were “hugely significant”. “We know that people rely on accurate identification to move freely through the country and around the world,” Strangio said.

“This will put trans people at risk of violence. It means every time you have an encounter with the government, the likelihood that you will be outed is significantly increased. And then, with that outing comes the risk of discrimination, harassment and potentially violence. So trans people are bracing themselves for a lot of negative outcomes here, not just symbolic, but really material ones.”

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Originally published as Trump’s ‘two sexes’ order removes ‘X’ gender passport option