U.S. Federal Courts
Federal appeals court rules trans Honduran woman should have received asylum in U.S.
Kelly González Aguilar spent nearly three years in ICE custody
A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled a transgender woman from Honduras should have received asylum in the U.S. because of “extensive evidence of widespread violence against transgender individuals” in her homeland.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled in favor of Kelly González Aguilar, who is from San Pedro Sula in Honduras’ Cortés department.
González claims her uncle beat her because of her “feminine behavior.”
She fled to Mexico with her sister when she was 12. They tried to find her mother, but the ruling notes González and her sister “suffered further abuse in Mexico, leading them to flee again — this time for the United States.” González transitioned once she arrived in the U.S.
An immigration judge denied González’s asylum claim. She appealed the decision to the Virginia-based Board of Immigration Appeals, which also rejected it.
“Any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to find a pattern or practice of persecution against transgender women in Honduras,” reads the 10th Circuit ruling.
González spent nearly three years in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody until her release from the Aurora Contract Detention Center, a privately-run facility in suburban Denver, on July 14, 2020. González currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
“This is an important decision that recognizes what it is like for people like me in Honduras, and I am happy that other trans people will be able to benefit from my experience,” said González in a press release the National Immigrant Justice Center, which represents her, issued after the 10th Circuit issued its ruling. “Waiting for three years in detention for this decision to come was very hard, but I am proud and grateful for all of the activists, campaign partners and lawyers who helped me along the way. I hope that with this decision they change many laws that violate human rights of LGBTQI immigrants who only ask for refuge.”
Violence and discrimination based on gender identity remains commonplace in Honduras.
Thalía Rodríguez, a prominent trans activist who led Asociación Cozumel Trans, a trans advocacy group, was murdered outside her home in Tegucigalpa, the country’s capital, on Jan. 11. A trans man who was a bus driver in San Pedro Sula fled to the U.S. in February in order to escape persecution and harassment that he and his family suffered because of his gender identity.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights last June issued a landmark ruling that found the Honduran state responsible for the murder of Vicky Hernández, a trans activist who was killed in San Pedro Sula, the country’s second largest city, after the 2009 coup that ousted then-President Manuel Zelaya.
Zelaya’s wife, Xiomara Castro, took office as Honduras’ first female president on Jan. 26.
Cattrachas, a lesbian feminist human rights group in Tegucigalpa, notes Hernández and Rodríguez are two of the more than 400 LGBTQ people who have been reported killed in Honduras since 2009.
Alma Rosa Silva-Bañuelos, trans asylum advocacy director for the TransLatin@ Coalition, in the press release said the 10th Circuit decision “will save transgender lives.”
“I recall my visits inside detention and weekly phone calls with Kelly while she survived three years in ICE detention,” said Silva-Bañuelos. “Her courage, strength and kindness are part of her resilience, as she waited for her case to be decided she supported other transgender asylum seekers while they were in detention. Kelly became a pillar of strength and support for other trans siblings and with this decision her determination will continue to have a ripple effect for transgender lives.”
U.S. Federal Courts
Federal judge scraps trans-inclusive workplace discrimination protections
Ruling appears to contradict US Supreme Court precedent
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has struck down guidelines by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission designed to protect against workplace harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
The EEOC in April 2024 updated its guidelines to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), which determined that discrimination against transgender people constituted sex-based discrimination as proscribed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
To ensure compliance with the law, the agency recommended that employers honor their employees’ preferred pronouns while granting them access to bathrooms and allowing them to wear dress code-compliant clothing that aligns with their gender identities.
While the the guidelines are not legally binding, Kacsmaryk ruled that their issuance created “mandatory standards” exceeding the EEOC’s statutory authority that were “inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition of Title VII and recent Supreme Court precedent.”
“Title VII does not require employers or courts to blind themselves to the biological differences between men and women,” he wrote in the opinion.
The case, which was brought by the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation, presents the greatest setback for LGBTQ inclusive workplace protections since President Donald Trump’s issuance of an executive order on the first day of his second term directing U.S. federal agencies to recognize only two genders as determined by birth sex.
Last month, top Democrats from both chambers of Congress reintroduced the Equality Act, which would codify LGBTQ-inclusive protections against discrimination into federal law, covering employment as well as areas like housing and jury service.
U.S. Federal Courts
Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy
Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.
Lambda Legal on April 25 filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary people who are challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s passport policy.
The lawsuit, which Lambda Legal filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, alleges the policy that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers “has caused and is causing grave and immediate harm to transgender people like plaintiffs, in violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection.”
Two of the seven plaintiffs — Jill Tran and Peter Poe — live in Maryland. The State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the federal government are defendants.
“The discriminatory passport policy exposes transgender U.S. citizens to harassment, abuse, and discrimination, in some cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling, by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes,” said Lambda Legal in a press release.
Zander Schlacter, a New York-based textile artist and designer, is the lead plaintiff.
The lawsuit notes he legally changed his name and gender in New York.
Schlacter less than a week before President Donald Trump’s inauguration “sent an expedited application to update his legal name on his passport, using form DS-5504.”
Trump once he took office signed an executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. The lawsuit notes Schlacter received his new passport in February.
“The passport has his correct legal name, but now has an incorrect sex marker of ‘F’ or ‘female,'” notes the lawsuit. “Mr. Schlacter also received a letter from the State Department notifying him that ‘the date of birth, place of birth, name, or sex was corrected on your passport application,’ with ‘sex’ circled in red. The stated reason was ‘to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth.'”
“I, like many transgender people, experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through public spaces, especially where a photo ID is required,” said Schlacter in the press release that announced the lawsuit. “My safety is further at risk because of my inaccurate passport. I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of border officials or anyone who views my passport.”
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.
Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.
Lambda Legal represented Zzyym.
The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022.
Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January. Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.
A federal judge in Boston earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven trans and nonbinary people.
U.S. Federal Courts
Federal judge blocks Trump passport executive order
State Department can no longer issue travel documents with ‘X’ gender markers
A federal judge on Friday ruled in favor of a group of transgender and nonbinary people who have filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s executive order that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers.
The Associated Press notes U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston issued a preliminary injunction against the directive. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the plaintiffs, in a press release notes Kobick concluded Trump’s executive order “is likely unconstitutional and in violation of the law.”
“The preliminary injunction requires the State Department to allow six transgender and nonbinary people to obtain passports with sex designations consistent with their gender identity while the lawsuit proceeds,” notes the ACLU. “Though today’s court order applies only to six of the plaintiffs in the case, the plaintiffs plan to quickly file a motion asking the court to certify a class of people affected by the State Department policy and to extend the preliminary injunction to that entire class.”
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.
Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.
The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022. Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January.
Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.
“This ruling affirms the inherent dignity of our clients, acknowledging the immediate and profound negative impact that the Trump administration’s passport policy would have on their ability to travel for work, school, and family,” said ACLU of Massachusetts Legal Director Jessie Rossman after Kobick issued her ruling.
“By forcing people to carry documents that directly contradict their identities, the Trump administration is attacking the very foundations of our right to privacy and the freedom to be ourselves,” added Rossman. “We will continue to fight to rescind this unlawful policy for everyone so that no one is placed in this untenable and unsafe position.”
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