Appeals court rejects Trump's attempt to change passport policy

On Thursday, a US federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration's attempt to stop issuing US passports that do not match the biological sex.

According to the appeals court, the State Department must continue to follow the existing rules.
Before Trump, the agency had allowed passport gender changes for over 30 years. In 2022, President Joe Biden's administration also introduced the option of choosing the neutral designation “X.”

However, the policy introduced on the basis of Trump's January 2025 executive order required that only two biological genders—male and female—be recognized and that passports reflect the gender determined at birth.

As a result of this policy, the State Department changed the rules to require passport applicants to provide proof of their biological sex at birth.

(reuters, sie)