California nonetheless permits individuals to vary their gender marker or use “X” on state-issued paperwork like their start certificates or their driver’s license.
Levy, who makes a speciality of identify and gender marker modifications via their nonprofit Identification Affirmation Workshop, stated they’ve seen clientele enhance “fairly considerably” for the reason that November election.
“Individuals noticed the writing on the wall,” stated Levy, who has been internet hosting free gender marker and identify change clinics with different LGBTQ+ organizations, together with the Oakland LGBTQ Middle. “The entire course of might be actually daunting,” they stated.
However what does altering your identify or gender marker on official authorities paperwork now entail? KQED spoke to Levy about what trans, intersex and nonbinary individuals can anticipate through the prolonged course of.
Please keep in mind that this isn’t authorized recommendation, and it’s at all times a good suggestion to speak to an professional about your particular person state of affairs earlier than taking concrete motion — particularly as a result of present occasions might have outdated some data on-line. Soar straight to: Organizations and assets providing recommendation about documentation modifications for trans people.
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What’s the present state of affairs for trans individuals’s U.S. passports?
Again in June, the U.S. District Courtroom of Massachusetts dominated that the State Division “should permit individuals with a gender identification totally different from their intercourse assigned at start to self-select the intercourse designation on their passport,” leaving a quick window of time by which trans People might replace or renew their paperwork accordingly.
However that window is closed as soon as once more. Following the Supreme Courtroom’s determination on Nov. 6, all new, renewed and substitute passports will now use the gender marker assigned at start — and the ‘X’ gender choice is now not accessible.
Whereas there’s nonetheless one other determination to return from the First Circuit Courtroom of Appeals left, which might result in one other transient window by which trans individuals can as soon as once more modify their gender markers, this timeline is “actually exhausting to foretell,” Levy stated.
“My recommendation stays the identical: that it’s higher to have a passport with the improper gender marker on it than it’s to don’t have any passport in any respect,” they stated.
Along with the confusion and nervousness attributable to the frequent coverage modifications, the state of affairs stays “demoralizing” for a lot of trans, intersex, and gender non-conforming individuals throughout the nation, Levy stated — individuals who have been already reeling from the Trump administration’s January government order affecting their passports.
A 24-year-old trans man advised NPR in February that after submitting paperwork to vary his gender marker to male on his passport earlier than Trump’s inauguration, he acquired a passport marking him as feminine. Euphoria actor Hunter Schafer detailed on TikTok how her new passport lists her as male, regardless of having feminine on her authorities paperwork since she was a teen.
“I’m simply form of afraid of the way in which these things slowly will get applied,” Schafer stated in her social submit, explaining her issues about presumably being pressured to out herself in entrance of a border patrol agent.
“We’re by no means going to cease present. I’m by no means going to cease being trans,” Schafer stated in her February video. “A letter and a passport can’t change that.”
“There’s actually no function for insurance policies like this one, aside from making the individuals it impacts’ lives depressing,” Levy stated.
Can individuals who have modified their gender marker or have “X” nonetheless use their passports to journey?
The U.S. State Division’s web site stated {that a} passport with an “X” marker or that “lists a intercourse apart from [your] intercourse as outlined by the White Home government order” will “stay legitimate till its expiration date,” and you could nonetheless use it to journey out and in of the U.S.
Acknowledging the nervousness some might have round touring these passports, Lambda Authorized, a company serving LGBTQ+ individuals, stated it’s not conscious of any confirmed incidents “the place people have confronted issues leaving or reentering the US utilizing an unexpired passport issued previous to the 2025 coverage modifications — together with these with an X gender marker.”
“There have additionally been no verified experiences of passports being confiscated upon reentry,” the group’s web site reads.
Nonetheless, careworn Lambda Authorized, vacationers ought to weigh their private circumstances, “together with how you utilize your passport, your plans for worldwide journey, and your particular person security wants and threat tolerance.”
Which paperwork can I alter my identify and/or gender markers on?
There isn’t any one common software the place you may change your identify or gender marker for your entire paperwork and altering one doesn’t immediate one other doc to vary. It’s a must to do it “manually 100% of the time,” Levy stated.
Levy stated the 4 main paperwork individuals have traditionally needed to vary to mirror an replace to their identify or gender identification are:
Federal:
State:
California, together with a number of different states, nonetheless permits individuals to vary their gender marker or use “X” on state-issued paperwork like their start certificates or driver’s license.
