New U.S. passports with the gender-neutral marker “X” will be paused after an executive order from President Donald Trump.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has directed the State Department to freeze passport applications that request “X” to be marked for gender. Under the new policy, passports already issued with “X” as the gender will still be valid.
The move comes after Trump’s day one executive order to officially “recognize two sexes, male and female,” and defined a woman as an “adult human female.” The order reversed the policy of allowing people to change their sex on passports and personnel records.
Since 2010, Americans have been allowed to change their sex on their passports. Initially, the change required forms showing a physician’s approval, but in 2021, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken scrapped that requirement. In 2022, he added the “X”…
