The US Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Trump administration’s policy to limit gender options on US passports to only male and female, effectively blocking transgender and nonbinary individuals from choosing markers that reflect their gender identity.
“Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth,”* the court said in an unsigned order. *”In both cases, the Government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment.”
The decision, which was made with a 6-3 vote along ideological lines, overturns a lower court order that had allowed passport applicants to choose male, female, or X markers. The policy is seen as a significant setback for LGBTQ+ rights, with advocates warning that it could lead to increased harassment and violence against transgender and nonbinary individuals.
“The challenged policy undermines the very purpose of passports as identity documents that officials check against the bearer’s appearance,”* said attorneys for Ashton Orr, a transgender man who was falsely accused of using a fake passport.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a dissenting opinion, stating that the policy could cause *”imminent, concrete injury”* to transgender and nonbinary Americans, particularly when traveling abroad.