The United States requires airlines to ignore the “X” gender markers in passports and enter “M” or “F” | Trump administration
US Customs and Border Protection The rule was implemented this week This would require airlines to ignore the ‘X’ gender markers in passports and insert an ‘M’ or ‘F’ instead, sending people with an ‘X’ into a panic.
“X” marks are now available to US passport holders In 2022in an effort to allow people with gender identities other than male and female to obtain more accurate travel documents.
Now, the new CBP base is attracting a lot of people Social media And beyond worrying that they are He won’t come back Allowing it to fly internationally.
“It is too early to say how this will play out in practice,” said Andy Eisenson, senior legal director at the Select Family Law Centre.
Passports must be marked with an “X”. They are still considered valid travel documents; US District Court in Massachusetts Issue an order in June to ensure it remains valid After the Trump administration I tried to block To them pursuant to Executive Order No. 14168, entitled Defending Women from Gender Ideological Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.
While courts have continued to block the Trump administration from outright banning the third gender label, this week’s rule still serves to make the lives of trans and nonbinary people more difficult, Eisenson says.
“I would suggest that the intent is to ensure that anyone acting under the law or as an agent of the state has the freedom to act on their personal bigotry as they please, without any worry about the consequences,” Eisenson said.
After spending time on the phone with CBP, TSA and the Department of Homeland Security, Eisenson was unable to get clear answers about how the rule would work, and who would be responsible for implementing it.
Eisenson said it is questionable whether it will be up to individual agents to decide whether they will choose to put an “X” on passports that is different from the “F” and “M” markings that airlines will now be required to insert, or whether the rule could prevent travelers with “X” markings from boarding international flights. However, land border crossings and domestic flights should not be affected, according to Eisenson.
A CBP spokesperson said: “Foreign travelers with valid, approved U.S. travel documents are processed as before. Trusted Traveler Program Applicants are now required to choose one of two approved designations, male or female, to complete the application. Selection of an applicant’s gender is not a criterion for an applicant’s admission into the United States.
Eisenson and Carl Charles, counsel for Lambda Legal, say they have not yet heard about the rule causing problems for people at the airport. But Dr. July Belosky, a scientist and American citizen who currently resides in Spain and uses he/they/her pronouns, said the new rule is already disrupting their lives.
When Belosky initially chose to change the gender indicator on the passport to “X,” they said “it was a practical decision.”
“It’s not like I did it to verify my identity and feel good about myself,” Belosky said, noting they did it out of necessity because it can be a bureaucratic hassle when different identity documents have different information on them.
Additionally, Pelowski said they have already faced problems at the airport because of their gender expression.
What CBP officers do when you show them your document [passport] At the border, do they look at the gender marker on your document. “Based on what your gender marker says, they decide what you’re supposed to look like and what your body is supposed to look like,” Belosky said.
Body x-ray scan at airport security Exposing genitals can be especially offensive to transgender people.
They continued: “CBP officers can decide whether or not the results of a body scan are suspicious based on, you know, there’s something in your clothing that they think you shouldn’t have. So what’s on your document constitutes what CBP officers think should be true.”
Pelowski said they were subjected to “unfair inspections” because of this, which is one of the reasons they decided to get an “X.”
“What I wanted to do was disrupt the process. When you have a gender marker with an ‘X’ written on it, suddenly it becomes more difficult for a CBP officer to build up an image of what you’re supposed to look like and compare it to that, positive or negative.”
Now that the new rule has been implemented, they have to worry about the same problem again.
“I’ve tested a bunch of things you can try if you’re in doubt,” they said. “I don’t want to know about the rest of this spectrum.”
To avoid this, Belosky said, “I am forced into the somewhat ridiculous situation of communicating with an immigration lawyer in order to enter my country.” They have dual citizenship in the United States and Chile, so they hope to enter the United States on a Chilean passport, which does not have the “X” option, in the future.
Lambda Legal’s Charles said he still considers the availability of the “X” tags a victory. “People need identity documents to move about their daily lives,” he said.
Future legal challenges to the policy will depend on how it is implemented, Eisenson said, adding that they expect the policy will vary for different people depending on what airline passengers choose to do, and other elements of their identity.
“This question depends on a person’s experience, identity, and how they move through the world on a number of levels, including what gender they are perceived to be, what their body looks like, what color their skin is, and how they dress,” Eisenson said.
Eisenson believes the point of this policy has nothing to do with passports and airports, saying: “They are trying to throw us into a state of reaction so that we are not able to focus on practical advocacy and the material needs of our communities. The longer they can keep us confused, paranoid and unsure of what is happening, the more they can do what they want.”