TL;DR
- Supreme Court greenlights Trump’s policy restricting passport gender markers to “male” or “female.”
- The policy reverses Biden-era rules that allowed “X” and self-selected gender identity.
- The ruling faces fierce backlash from LGBTQ advocates calling it discriminatory.
- Trans and nonbinary people fear safety risks when traveling with documents that misgender them.
- The case signals how the Court’s conservative majority may shape future LGBTQ rights.
Supreme Court Gives Trump Green Light to Restrict Transgender Passports
The Supreme Court on Thursday handed the Trump administration a controversial win, allowing it to enforce new passport restrictions that recognize only “male” or “female” as gender markers — determined strictly by sex assigned at birth. The ruling temporarily freezes the Biden-era policy that permitted transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans to select “X” or self-identify their gender on federal travel documents.
In an unsigned order, the conservative majority argued that the government “is merely attesting to a historical fact” when it lists someone’s sex at birth, equating it to displaying a country of origin. The three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson calling out the majority for permitting “a questionably legal policy” that poses “imminent, concrete injury” to transgender citizens.
The Trump administration had moved swiftly to reinstate the binary system, framing it as a return to “biological reality.” Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated the decision online, claiming it upheld the belief that “there are two sexes.” The statement struck a nerve among advocates, who said the policy denies the lived reality of transgender and nonbinary people — and weaponizes federal identification against them.
A Step Backward for Trans Rights
Under the Biden administration’s 2021 rule, applicants could choose “X” or self-select male or female without presenting medical proof of transition. For many transgender and nonbinary travelers, that policy was more than paperwork — it was safety. According to lawyers representing the plaintiffs, forcing trans people to carry passports that don’t match their identity “puts them in potential danger whenever they use a passport.”
Among them is Ashton Orr, a transgender man from West Virginia, who was told he could only receive a passport marked “female” despite years of transition and legal recognition of his gender. Orr and six others filed suit, arguing the rollback violated the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection clause and federal administrative law. A federal judge initially sided with them, but the Supreme Court’s emergency order now lets Trump’s team implement the restrictions while litigation continues.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer defended the move, insisting “the Constitution does not prohibit the government from defining sex biologically.” Critics called it a deliberate effort to erase decades of progress toward self-identification and equality.
LGBTQ Community Reacts: “This Is Fuel on the Fire”
“This is a heartbreaking setback for the freedom of all people to be themselves,” said Jon Davidson of the ACLU, calling the decision “fuel on the fire the Trump administration is stoking against transgender people.” Across social media, LGBTQ activists denounced the ruling as part of a broader pattern of rights reversals since Trump’s return to office — from military service restrictions to health care access rollbacks.
For transgender and nonbinary Americans, the implications go beyond inconvenience. International travel can mean exposure to harassment or even arrest in countries hostile to gender diversity. The inability to have accurate documents, advocates warn, endangers lives. “It’s not just about paperwork,” one activist noted. “It’s about dignity and safety.”
What Comes Next
Though not a final ruling, the Supreme Court’s move signals how it may ultimately decide the case — and perhaps the direction of transgender rights in America. Legal scholars note that the Court’s increasing use of its so-called “shadow docket” to greenlight controversial policies without full argument could shape LGBTQ protections for years.
For now, thousands of trans and nonbinary Americans are left in bureaucratic limbo — their identities suspended between two administrations’ opposing visions of equality. As one LGBTQ advocate put it: “We fought for the right to exist on paper. Now they’re trying to erase us with ink.”