In order for the trans passport ban to work, State Department employees have been instructed to consider every American trans until proven cis. That’s a problem.
I have no clue, but I wouldn’t expect there to be. Organisations like the ACLU and Lambda Legal, especially post-Bostock, focus on broad relief, 14th Amendment Equal Protection arguments. This wouldn’t be the broadest and wouldn’t generate precedent for other cases, but I hope they at least consider doing it. Every inch helps.
I submitted a brief to the ACLU to sue the federal government for violating my 1st amendment rights with my identity and denying my ability to use the proper gender marker on my passport.
Oh FFS.What else are they going to try to control? Ban males who wear pink? Females who wear blue?? Female truckers? Male nurses? What next? A "show me your pubes" line at airport check-in? Such BS from this admin., addressing non-issues and creating chaos for the sake of chaos. Judicial and legislative branches need to collectively grow a pair and stand up to this demented, wannabe dictator. Need to concentrate on REAL issues, like the economy, helping Ukraine and RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES.
Should the hypochristians gain the upper hand in the MAGA power struggles, they probably will try to enforce gender conformity to that extent. No women in pants, no skirts above the ankle. No long hair on men, and nothing that any dudebro ever could think has a hint of feminine. Only unmarried women allowed to work, and only in low-paid caretaker, possibly secretarial, jobs. No crossing the employment divide, for anyone, but plenty of misery to go around.
Interestingly, this arbitrary adjudication started before the inauguration. I submitted my passport application on New Years Eve and the Friday BEFORE the inauguration, I got an e-mail saying that there was a discrepancy between my birth certificate and the gender I'd self-selected on my application. I had to mail in a form confirming my selection, which caused a pivotal delay so that the application was affected by the executive order, and I got a passport with a government-selected gender marker instead. I had to wait for the injunction to get it corrected and now I get to spend the next three years wondering if it will be forceably revoked. I am expecting it to be sooner or later because I believe this administration would willingly go into debt to harass and persecute trans people. But I will certainly look forward to exercising my right to an appeal hearing if/when that happens.
Wow, that’s absolutely insane. It sounds like an employee sabotaged your application knowing Trump’s entry into office would allow them to give you the wrong marker. If they ever revoke your now-corrected passport, please appeal. I’m really glad you have it now though!
Wow! Of all the things that anyone anywhere should be worried about and focused on is whether a passport says "M" or "F" and that person's genitalia matches the check box. How are they going to check for this anyway?
I think he doth spends too much time focused on a person's genitalia....
This is horrific. The administration doesn't want trans people to exist in the country, but at the same time will not allow them to leave? Frustratingly hypocritical.
I was applying for a new passport during the Biden years. I called and explained I had had a passport in the 1970s, and no idea of the exact date and #. I was told to answer on the form as if I never had one. We don’t keep records from that long ago.
I suspect for transfolk who had very old passports, and now have matching non-amended birth certificates, etc., just using current status as M or F might work.
Yeah, it wouldn’t surprise me if the government can only check up to a certain point, especially with passports. Those records might not’ve mattered enough to be digitised. We can’t know for sure though.
I was thrilled at the idea of getting an X on my passport and was ready to apply, but my lawyer suggested that doing so was basically filing paperwork with the Trump Regime to watch me. I decided not to try for the X and go with my AGAB on my updated passport. Makes me sad to not be authentic, but I can always change my mind. sigh.
How do you show biological sex? It’s way more complex than the transphobes think. There are 4x or so more intersex people than trans people. Do genetic testing of XX versus XY chromosomes. It would just generate a mess. Perhaps that’s the idea.
They want to discriminate against that 1% of the population so bad they’re willing to inconvenience 99% 💩 but sure let’s ignore the other 1% touching kids on an island. 🏝️
In January the regime said sex is determined at conception, making all Americans female. With this ruling all Americans are technically trans men. Leaving the question.... What are those humans already born with the nuts and berries then? Cis men are not real according to these rulings. J/k
It's actually really simple and won't impact people much.
When you amend a birth certificate in most states, you get an extra piece of paper stapled to the original birth certificate. It's 100% clear what was changed. Nobody who changed their birth certificate in these states will need to provide any additional proof because the amendment doesn't override the original information and that will be self-evident.
For anyone who amended their birth certificate via name change from marriage or any other reason in a state that issues a new birth certificate, it's equally simple. They can provide a copy of the original and amended birth certificate to show the difference. It takes about 8 weeks to get a copy. No different than if you misplaced your birth certificate and need a copy.
And the appeals? They'll just do what they did with copyright issues and create a smaller tribunal like a small claims court and make it 100% online to process cases fast. Mark my words, that's how they're going to handle it.
But the simple answer is one people don't want to hear. Federal agencies can access your information without you providing more documentation for legal purposes that would be applicable for obtaining and renewing passports. They can get immediate access to every name and sex marker you've had with the Social Security Administration, and the federal government can access your birth records as well. Nobody will even need to present new documentation. And appeals will be denied when it's not founded on administrative or legal error. In other words, the court can require a valid reason for the appeal and if the reason isn't valid they don't even have to hear it. They'll dismiss it before it even goes to court.
I've read every single policy in every single state surrounding birth certificates, and I can tell you that in most states, you do not get an extra piece of paper stapled to the original birth certificate. You get a new one that doesn't say what was amended.
There is a difference for cis people who've amended theirs: the delay. It takes 8 weeks to get a copy, yes, but plus 2 more weeks of processing plus another 2 for mailing time leads to a delay that is completely unnecessary. This can and will ruin travel plans.
Appeals, if denied, can certainly be escalated. If done en masse, I can assure you that organisations like the ACLU will get involved. The court requires a valid reason for the appeal, sure, but it will also require a valid reason for the revocation. The State Department doesn't have one, but someone who's had their passport revoked will.
Also, federal agencies cannot just access your information if it isn't 'routine' or if they don't have cause to do so. Being trans does not qualify as cause. Moreover, the federal government cannot access birth records on demand under any circumstances. Unlike other countries, the United States is devolved when it comes to vital records, and as such, the states have full control over issuing, maintaining, amending, and providing birth certificates. In states that issue a new certificate, the old one is sealed by court order from even the federal government. The only exception to this are Consular Reports of Births Abroad (CRBAs), which are federally-issued birth certificates for natural-born Americans born outside the US (such as those with American parents).
I recommend you take a look at the laws and policies affecting what you're talking about before commenting as if you've read them.
Well you're wrong on every level. I used to run a large resource website and helped hundreds of people change their birth certificates before I snapped out of the insanity and I had policies and forms from every state for every documentation change anyone would ever need with instructions directly from each state's Vital Records department, and most states do not issue new ones, they staple a paper to it.
You just don't like the truth so you're disagreeing but you are wrong.
Either way, none of that matters. Federal agencies can access your records - I not only have been helping people with resources for 20 years, but I work with attorneys and I know how it works. You're very wrong. As most people are about law. They learn the hard way.
If someone wants to renew their passport, replace one, or get one for the first time, the government will ask for paperwork as usual, and then they'll just compare it to what they access on the back end. It doesn't matter if it's sealed. They can bypass the seal and access it for passports legally.
Do you know what is in your Consumer Report from Lexis Nexis? It's not a credit report. It shows every name you've ever used throughout your entire life and it's accessible to landlords and employers. You might give an employer your shiny new birth certificate and SS card with the name "David" and they'll get your Consumer Report and see that you used to be named "Sally."
The valid reason for the revocation will be lying about birth sex. It's that simple.
And it's actually 6-8 weeks total to get a copy of your BC. I just did it a couple years ago. So don't plan to travel until you have your documents. If you screwed up your documents by lying about your sex that isn't Vital Records' problem. That's your problem.
You have no idea how any of this works in the real world. Which explains why you think the ACLU is going to do anything. No lawsuit they could file will overturn this. It will be rejected. Watch and learn.
Right, you used to run a large resource website. Now you don't. Policies change. Forms change. Birth certificate rules change. You assume that they're static, but in reality, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Federal agencies cannot access your records because they don't control them, the states do. If they want to see it, and it's sealed, they have to request it from the state itself. Only if the person in question consents or by court order can it be released for this purpose. And it will not be needed in that context: the amended certificate is just as valid as the "original" one, thus the federal government has no grounds to seek it out.
There is no "back end." These are state records. You worked with attorneys then; now your profile literally says you are "gender-critical." Just like you, laws change. Processes change.
Lastly, the federal government cannot legally take whatever is on LexisNexis' database into consideration, therefore it is moot to this conversation.
Do you understand that the government is already checking the official databases with vital records and Social Security to verify genders for people who are applying for passports? They have access, it's legal, and it's already happening.
The SSA has a record of your sex at birth. Nobody can get around that. The passport office is checking historical records and if your sex marker doesn't match your birth sex with the SSA you get rejected. They have been doing this for months. What you keep saying can't happen has already been in place.
I never said the government can take information from Lexis Nexis' database. I explained that to explain to you that this information is never erased. The government doesn't need their database. They have direct access to state govt databases.
Let me repeat this. Anyone applying for a passport, trying to renew a passport, or replace a lost passport is automatically being cross-referenced with Vital Records and the SSA. If they have a history with mismatched gender markers, they are being flagged for having "conflicting sex marker information." That's literally what the reason is for the flag. It's happening to people who are providing the passport office with IDs and records that all match. So they're getting the information from historical records, as in, they have access to the former sex markers.
When people get rejected for having conflicting sex markers, they're given an attestation form asking you to declare that you are part of the class of individuals protected by the Orr v. Trump court injunction and that the sex marker change has to be honored.
This is already happening. There is absolutely a "back end." Government agencies share information, between federal and state, and the federal government is accessing the records right now.
You can be mad all you want but to deny reality is insane.
They can cross reference with SSA and previous passports, but that does not constitute physically accessing a sealed birth certificate. That cannot be accessed without a court order. They have access to the former markers in their own systems, absolutely, but that doesn't mean they have access to the sealed documents.
Once again, these are state documents. The federal government can request the information from the states, but that is not the same thing as accessing the certificates on demand. And these sealed certificates will not be shared by the states because they're bound by their own laws surrounding them.
And now you're getting at the exact point of my article: they're checking the past records for EVERYONE. They are conducting these checks as if everyone were trans. That is absolutely happening.
When you have an affidavit attached to your birth certificate that's not sealed. There is no court order needed. Everyone's birth sex is accessible by the federal government.
Oh no you're very wrong, the fed govt can access state records anytime for certain legal purposes.
Federal law trumps state law, though. So if a federal law permits accessing sealed records, states must comply.
Yes, they are checking past records for everyone. And you know who the only people being flagged for sex marker fraud is? Trans people. Because non-trans people don't lie about their birth sex on official documents.
To say this is impacting non-trans people is literally delusion. If you lied about your sex marker on your documents that's your problem and they'll flag you, but non-trans people don't do that so you have no point.
Even though I’m already out of the country, having my passport cancelled for the crime of being trans would reak havoc on my visa.
Do you know if there are any efforts building to mount a case against the adjudicating process itself?
I have no clue, but I wouldn’t expect there to be. Organisations like the ACLU and Lambda Legal, especially post-Bostock, focus on broad relief, 14th Amendment Equal Protection arguments. This wouldn’t be the broadest and wouldn’t generate precedent for other cases, but I hope they at least consider doing it. Every inch helps.
I submitted a brief to the ACLU to sue the federal government for violating my 1st amendment rights with my identity and denying my ability to use the proper gender marker on my passport.
I hope you win.
Oh FFS.What else are they going to try to control? Ban males who wear pink? Females who wear blue?? Female truckers? Male nurses? What next? A "show me your pubes" line at airport check-in? Such BS from this admin., addressing non-issues and creating chaos for the sake of chaos. Judicial and legislative branches need to collectively grow a pair and stand up to this demented, wannabe dictator. Need to concentrate on REAL issues, like the economy, helping Ukraine and RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES.
Should the hypochristians gain the upper hand in the MAGA power struggles, they probably will try to enforce gender conformity to that extent. No women in pants, no skirts above the ankle. No long hair on men, and nothing that any dudebro ever could think has a hint of feminine. Only unmarried women allowed to work, and only in low-paid caretaker, possibly secretarial, jobs. No crossing the employment divide, for anyone, but plenty of misery to go around.
Interestingly, this arbitrary adjudication started before the inauguration. I submitted my passport application on New Years Eve and the Friday BEFORE the inauguration, I got an e-mail saying that there was a discrepancy between my birth certificate and the gender I'd self-selected on my application. I had to mail in a form confirming my selection, which caused a pivotal delay so that the application was affected by the executive order, and I got a passport with a government-selected gender marker instead. I had to wait for the injunction to get it corrected and now I get to spend the next three years wondering if it will be forceably revoked. I am expecting it to be sooner or later because I believe this administration would willingly go into debt to harass and persecute trans people. But I will certainly look forward to exercising my right to an appeal hearing if/when that happens.
Wow, that’s absolutely insane. It sounds like an employee sabotaged your application knowing Trump’s entry into office would allow them to give you the wrong marker. If they ever revoke your now-corrected passport, please appeal. I’m really glad you have it now though!
That's exactly what I think happened! I had the bad luck to get a transphobic clerk and they intentionally delayed my application.
Wow! Of all the things that anyone anywhere should be worried about and focused on is whether a passport says "M" or "F" and that person's genitalia matches the check box. How are they going to check for this anyway?
I think he doth spends too much time focused on a person's genitalia....
All of this time and money spent purely for reason of dehumanizing a small portion of the population. What a sad country this is.
This is horrific. The administration doesn't want trans people to exist in the country, but at the same time will not allow them to leave? Frustratingly hypocritical.
I was applying for a new passport during the Biden years. I called and explained I had had a passport in the 1970s, and no idea of the exact date and #. I was told to answer on the form as if I never had one. We don’t keep records from that long ago.
I suspect for transfolk who had very old passports, and now have matching non-amended birth certificates, etc., just using current status as M or F might work.
Yeah, it wouldn’t surprise me if the government can only check up to a certain point, especially with passports. Those records might not’ve mattered enough to be digitised. We can’t know for sure though.
I was thrilled at the idea of getting an X on my passport and was ready to apply, but my lawyer suggested that doing so was basically filing paperwork with the Trump Regime to watch me. I decided not to try for the X and go with my AGAB on my updated passport. Makes me sad to not be authentic, but I can always change my mind. sigh.
How do you show biological sex? It’s way more complex than the transphobes think. There are 4x or so more intersex people than trans people. Do genetic testing of XX versus XY chromosomes. It would just generate a mess. Perhaps that’s the idea.
They want to discriminate against that 1% of the population so bad they’re willing to inconvenience 99% 💩 but sure let’s ignore the other 1% touching kids on an island. 🏝️
Aren’t we?
This is exactly why I got a passport last summer Hopefully by 2034 this will be over.
In January the regime said sex is determined at conception, making all Americans female. With this ruling all Americans are technically trans men. Leaving the question.... What are those humans already born with the nuts and berries then? Cis men are not real according to these rulings. J/k
This will be interesting for people not born in the United States and who have certificate of citizenship
It's actually really simple and won't impact people much.
When you amend a birth certificate in most states, you get an extra piece of paper stapled to the original birth certificate. It's 100% clear what was changed. Nobody who changed their birth certificate in these states will need to provide any additional proof because the amendment doesn't override the original information and that will be self-evident.
For anyone who amended their birth certificate via name change from marriage or any other reason in a state that issues a new birth certificate, it's equally simple. They can provide a copy of the original and amended birth certificate to show the difference. It takes about 8 weeks to get a copy. No different than if you misplaced your birth certificate and need a copy.
And the appeals? They'll just do what they did with copyright issues and create a smaller tribunal like a small claims court and make it 100% online to process cases fast. Mark my words, that's how they're going to handle it.
But the simple answer is one people don't want to hear. Federal agencies can access your information without you providing more documentation for legal purposes that would be applicable for obtaining and renewing passports. They can get immediate access to every name and sex marker you've had with the Social Security Administration, and the federal government can access your birth records as well. Nobody will even need to present new documentation. And appeals will be denied when it's not founded on administrative or legal error. In other words, the court can require a valid reason for the appeal and if the reason isn't valid they don't even have to hear it. They'll dismiss it before it even goes to court.
Non-trans people aren't going to suffer here.
I've read every single policy in every single state surrounding birth certificates, and I can tell you that in most states, you do not get an extra piece of paper stapled to the original birth certificate. You get a new one that doesn't say what was amended.
There is a difference for cis people who've amended theirs: the delay. It takes 8 weeks to get a copy, yes, but plus 2 more weeks of processing plus another 2 for mailing time leads to a delay that is completely unnecessary. This can and will ruin travel plans.
Appeals, if denied, can certainly be escalated. If done en masse, I can assure you that organisations like the ACLU will get involved. The court requires a valid reason for the appeal, sure, but it will also require a valid reason for the revocation. The State Department doesn't have one, but someone who's had their passport revoked will.
Also, federal agencies cannot just access your information if it isn't 'routine' or if they don't have cause to do so. Being trans does not qualify as cause. Moreover, the federal government cannot access birth records on demand under any circumstances. Unlike other countries, the United States is devolved when it comes to vital records, and as such, the states have full control over issuing, maintaining, amending, and providing birth certificates. In states that issue a new certificate, the old one is sealed by court order from even the federal government. The only exception to this are Consular Reports of Births Abroad (CRBAs), which are federally-issued birth certificates for natural-born Americans born outside the US (such as those with American parents).
I recommend you take a look at the laws and policies affecting what you're talking about before commenting as if you've read them.
Well you're wrong on every level. I used to run a large resource website and helped hundreds of people change their birth certificates before I snapped out of the insanity and I had policies and forms from every state for every documentation change anyone would ever need with instructions directly from each state's Vital Records department, and most states do not issue new ones, they staple a paper to it.
You just don't like the truth so you're disagreeing but you are wrong.
Either way, none of that matters. Federal agencies can access your records - I not only have been helping people with resources for 20 years, but I work with attorneys and I know how it works. You're very wrong. As most people are about law. They learn the hard way.
If someone wants to renew their passport, replace one, or get one for the first time, the government will ask for paperwork as usual, and then they'll just compare it to what they access on the back end. It doesn't matter if it's sealed. They can bypass the seal and access it for passports legally.
Do you know what is in your Consumer Report from Lexis Nexis? It's not a credit report. It shows every name you've ever used throughout your entire life and it's accessible to landlords and employers. You might give an employer your shiny new birth certificate and SS card with the name "David" and they'll get your Consumer Report and see that you used to be named "Sally."
The valid reason for the revocation will be lying about birth sex. It's that simple.
And it's actually 6-8 weeks total to get a copy of your BC. I just did it a couple years ago. So don't plan to travel until you have your documents. If you screwed up your documents by lying about your sex that isn't Vital Records' problem. That's your problem.
You have no idea how any of this works in the real world. Which explains why you think the ACLU is going to do anything. No lawsuit they could file will overturn this. It will be rejected. Watch and learn.
Right, you used to run a large resource website. Now you don't. Policies change. Forms change. Birth certificate rules change. You assume that they're static, but in reality, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Federal agencies cannot access your records because they don't control them, the states do. If they want to see it, and it's sealed, they have to request it from the state itself. Only if the person in question consents or by court order can it be released for this purpose. And it will not be needed in that context: the amended certificate is just as valid as the "original" one, thus the federal government has no grounds to seek it out.
There is no "back end." These are state records. You worked with attorneys then; now your profile literally says you are "gender-critical." Just like you, laws change. Processes change.
Lastly, the federal government cannot legally take whatever is on LexisNexis' database into consideration, therefore it is moot to this conversation.
It doesn't matter.
Do you understand that the government is already checking the official databases with vital records and Social Security to verify genders for people who are applying for passports? They have access, it's legal, and it's already happening.
The SSA has a record of your sex at birth. Nobody can get around that. The passport office is checking historical records and if your sex marker doesn't match your birth sex with the SSA you get rejected. They have been doing this for months. What you keep saying can't happen has already been in place.
I never said the government can take information from Lexis Nexis' database. I explained that to explain to you that this information is never erased. The government doesn't need their database. They have direct access to state govt databases.
Let me repeat this. Anyone applying for a passport, trying to renew a passport, or replace a lost passport is automatically being cross-referenced with Vital Records and the SSA. If they have a history with mismatched gender markers, they are being flagged for having "conflicting sex marker information." That's literally what the reason is for the flag. It's happening to people who are providing the passport office with IDs and records that all match. So they're getting the information from historical records, as in, they have access to the former sex markers.
When people get rejected for having conflicting sex markers, they're given an attestation form asking you to declare that you are part of the class of individuals protected by the Orr v. Trump court injunction and that the sex marker change has to be honored.
This is already happening. There is absolutely a "back end." Government agencies share information, between federal and state, and the federal government is accessing the records right now.
You can be mad all you want but to deny reality is insane.
They can cross reference with SSA and previous passports, but that does not constitute physically accessing a sealed birth certificate. That cannot be accessed without a court order. They have access to the former markers in their own systems, absolutely, but that doesn't mean they have access to the sealed documents.
Once again, these are state documents. The federal government can request the information from the states, but that is not the same thing as accessing the certificates on demand. And these sealed certificates will not be shared by the states because they're bound by their own laws surrounding them.
And now you're getting at the exact point of my article: they're checking the past records for EVERYONE. They are conducting these checks as if everyone were trans. That is absolutely happening.
When you have an affidavit attached to your birth certificate that's not sealed. There is no court order needed. Everyone's birth sex is accessible by the federal government.
Oh no you're very wrong, the fed govt can access state records anytime for certain legal purposes.
Federal law trumps state law, though. So if a federal law permits accessing sealed records, states must comply.
Yes, they are checking past records for everyone. And you know who the only people being flagged for sex marker fraud is? Trans people. Because non-trans people don't lie about their birth sex on official documents.
To say this is impacting non-trans people is literally delusion. If you lied about your sex marker on your documents that's your problem and they'll flag you, but non-trans people don't do that so you have no point.