Politics
State Department to issue gender-neutral passports
Dana Zzyym filed federal lawsuit after ‘X’ gender marker request denied

The State Department has announced it will begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday in a statement that announced the new policy said the State Department “will be taking further steps toward ensuring the fair treatment of LGBTQI+ U.S. citizens, regardless of their gender or sex, by beginning the process of updating our procedures for the issuance of U.S. Passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBA).”
Blinken noted the State Department will immediately update its procedures “to allow applicants to self-select their gender as ‘M’ or ‘F’ and will no longer require medical certification if an applicantās self-selected gender does not match the gender on their other citizenship or identity documents.” The State Department, according to Blinken, has also begun the process to allow people who identify as non-binary, intersex or gender non-conforming to choose a gender-neutral gender marker for their passports and CRBAs.
Blinken did not say when the process will be completed.
“The process of adding a gender marker for non-binary, intersex and gender non-conforming persons to these documents is technologically complex and will take time for extensive systems updates,” said Blinken. “The department will also be working closely with its interagency partners to ensure as smooth a travel experience as possible for the passport holder.”
Blinken announced the new policy less than a week after Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley helped raise the Progress Pride flag at the State Department on Friday.
Dana Zzyym filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their passport application. Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who also identifies as non-binary, had sought to list their sex as “X.”
Lambda Legal represents Zzyym.
āIāve been at this fight for so long,ā said Zzyym in a press release that Lambda Legal released on Wednesday. āI am optimistic that, with the incredible support and work of Lambda Legal and the Intersex Campaign for Equality, I will soon receive an accurate passport. One that reflects who I truly am; and that will allow for me to present in person at the several international conferences to which Iāve been invited to present on issues confronting intersex people.ā

Lambda Legal Counsel Paul D. Castillo in the same press release also welcomed the State Department’s announcement.
āThe update to the State Departmentās policy has been a long time coming and is prompted in large part by three separate court rulings in Danaās favor,ā said Castillo. āDana showed incredible courage and perseverance throughout, and it is rewarding now to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
“With todayās announcement, countless intersex, non-binary and other gender-diverse United States passport applicants will at last get the accurate passports they need,” added Castillo. “As important, self-certification of their identity removes unnecessary barriers and makes accurate IDs accessible to more people, reducing discrimination, harassment and violence aimed at transgender people.ā
Congress
House Dems urge OPM not to implement anti-trans executive order
Authors were Dem. U.S. Reps. Mark Takano (Calif.), Jamie Raskin (Md.), and Gerald Connolly (Va.)

Three House Democrats including Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Mark Takano (Calif.) issued a letter on Wednesday urging the Office of Personnel Management to not implement President Donald Trump’s anti-trans executive order, “Defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government.”
Also signing the letter were U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly (Va.), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.
The lawmakers wrote the order “unlawfully attacks the civil rights of transgender Americans” while the White House’s corresponding memo and guidance “implements unlawful discrimination by the federal government against transgender people in the civil service and the provision of federal services.”
Specifically, they call unconstitutional the directive for agencies to “end all programs, contracts, grants, positions, documents, directives, orders, regulations, materials, forms,
communications, statements, plans, and training that ‘inculcate’ or ‘promote’ ‘gender
ideology’āwhich the Executive Order defines broadly to encompass acknowledging the simple
existence of transgender people and gender identity.”
āWe are deeply alarmed by these and other actions the Trump Administration has taken in its first few weeks to eliminate all government support for the transgender community, including efforts designed to enforcing the rights and support the health of transgender individuals,” the congressmen wrote.
They added, “We are also appalled by the Administrationās attempts to weaponize federal agencies to target the transgender community for discrimination and exclusion. These actions contradict federal law, Supreme Court precedent, and most importantly the Constitutionās guarantee of equal protection under the law.ā
Politics
Trump administration sued over gender affirming care ban
Plaintiffs represented by Lambda Legal, ACLU, PFLAG National, others

Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and the ACLU of Maryland, joined by the law firms Hogan Lovells and Jenner & Block, have sued the Trump-Vance administration over its issuance of an executive order banning gender affirming care nationwide for patients younger than 19.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, seeks “preliminary and permanent injunction preventing the Agency Defendants, including any subagencies of Defendant HHS, from enforcing or implementing the Denial of Care and the Gender Identity Orders.”
PFLAG National and GMLA are also representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, seven families with transgender or nonbinary children.
Trump’s executive order last week prohibits health insurers run by the federal government, including Medicaid and TRICARE, from funding medical care for trans and gender diverse youth that is recommended by mainstream scientific and medical organizations like the American Medical Association.
Hospitals throughout the country subsequently suspended or shut down their gender affirming care programs. Those that have acknowledged the move publicly cited the administration’s order, which threatens federal funding and grants for noncompliance.
New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a letter on Monday, signed by a coalition of 22 state AGs, informing hundreds of recipients of federal funding, including healthcare providers, “who were informed that funding cannot be frozen or withdrawn on the basis of providing gender affirming care to minors.”
Likewise, the lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal and the ACLU argues the executive orders are āunlawful and unconstitutional,ā first because they seek to withhold federal funds previously authorized by Congress and second because they violate anti-discrimination laws.
Politics
Trump previews anti-trans executive orders in inaugural address
Unclear how or when they would be implemented

President Donald Trump, during his inaugural address on Monday, previewed some anti-trans executive orders he has pledged to sign, though it was not yet fully clear how and when they would be implemented.
“This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” he said. “Today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government, that there are only two genders, male and female.”
The president added, “I will sign an order to stop our warriors from being subjected to radical political theories and social experiments, while on duty. It’s going to end immediately.”
After taking the oath of office inside the U.S. Capitol building, Trump was expected to sign as many as 200 executive orders.
On issues of gender identity and LGBTQ rights, the 47th president was reportedly considering a range of moves, including banning trans student athletes from competing and excluding trans people from the U.S. Armed Forces.
NBC News reported on Monday, however, that senior officials with the new administration pointed to two forthcoming executive orders ā the official recognition of only two genders, and “ending ‘radical and wasteful’ diversity, equity and inclusion programs inside federal agencies.”
With respect to the former, in practical terms it would mean walking back the Biden-Harris administration’s policy, beginning in 2022, of allowing U.S. citizens to select the “x” gender marker for their passports and other official documents.
“The order aims to require that the federal government use the term ‘sex’ instead of ‘gender,’ and directs the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to ‘ensure that official government documents, including passports and visas, reflect sex accurately,'” according to NBC.
Additionally, though it was unclear what exactly this would mean, the first EO would take aim at the use of taxpayer funds for gender-transition healthcare, such as in correctional facilities.
The Human Rights Campaign in a press release Monday indicated that a “fulsome review of executive actions” is forthcoming, but the group’s President Kelley Robinson said, āToday, the Trump administration is expected to release a barrage of executive actions taking aim at the LGBTQ+ community instead of uniting our country and prioritizing the pressing issues the American people are facing.ā Ā
āBut make no mistake: these actions will not take effect immediately,” she said.
āEvery person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect in all areas of their lives,” Robinson said. “No one should be subjected to ongoing discrimination, harassment and humiliation where they work, go to school, or access healthcare. But todayās expected executive actions targeting the LGBTQ+ community serve no other purpose than to hurt our families and our communities.”
She continued, āOur community has fought for decades to ensure that our relationships are respected at work, that our identities are accepted at school, and that our service is honored in the military. Any attack on our rights threatens the rights of any person who doesnāt fit into the narrow view of how they should look and act. The incoming administration is trying to divide our communities in the hope that we forget what makes us strong. But we refuse to back down or be intimidated.”
āWe are not going anywhere. and we will fight back against these harmful provisions with everything weāve got,” Robinson said.
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