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In January, the State Department announced that it would no longer issue “X” gender markers on passports or allow transgender Americans to update their passports with their gender identity.Shortly after that, Leo Goddard called the Franklin County Probate court with a simple question.“I stumbled over my words when I called and I was like, ‘I don’t know any other way to phrase this.
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Can trans people even get their passports anymore? Like, are trans people allowed to get passports?’” Goddard said.He didn’t get a clear answer. Goddard lives in Farmington and has X as the gender marker on his passport, something the Biden administration allowed beginning in 2022.
“It relates more to how I feel about gender and myself,” Goddard said. “I identify as transmasculine. Usually I just tell people I’m a man.
But when I’m with my community, I’m usually closer to nonbinary.”For transgender and nonbinary people, it was already a complex process to get passports and other identity documents to reflect their gender identity. And it has been made more difficult, and in some cases impossible, since President Donald Trump took office.
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5em 0;}read moreMaine sues Trump administration to unfreeze funds to feed schoolchildrenby Christopher Burns4 hours agoApril 7, 2025Goddard was already nervous about harassment and discrimination, but now he said he fears for his safety the next time he travels, even within the United States.“It feels like there’s a target on my back almost anywhere I go,” Goddard said.The State Department has clarified that all current passports with X gender markers are still valid.
But it has left transgender people unsure of their ability to get accurate or updated documents in the future.Maine is one of 22 states, plus Washington, D.C, that allow a person to select X as their gender marker on state IDs like drivers licenses.
Parents can also select X on their child’s birth certificate. And Mainers have the option to amend their own birth certificate to align with their gender identity.But Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said the discrepancy between state and federal law has caused some confusion.
“I have certainly heard from transgender Mainers who are feeling targeted by the federal government now,” Bellows said. “We have seen folks reaching out to us to understand if Maine law had changed after President Trump issued the latest executive order on this issue. And the short answer is no.
Only Congress and state legislatures can change the law.”read moreJohn Oliver highlights Maine in trans athletes segmentby Christopher Burns6 hours agoApril 7, 2025Bellows said Maine will continue to offer the gender marker X, and individuals can still change their gender marker on a state ID or driver’s license. She said this also applies to Real ID, which domestic air travelers will need to fly beginning May 7, 2025.
But there is still a lot of uncertainty for people like Becky Wartell and her spouse, who selected X on their child’s birth certificate.“I thought it was doing something that would make it easier for my kid, and show her that I love her no matter who she ends up being, and that I want her to have all the options in the world,” Wartell said.They have a friend’s wedding coming up later this year abroad, so they need to get a passport for their 17-month-old.
“Whatever the marker is on the passport needs to match what’s on the birth certificate, and also that it needs to be ‘M’ or ‘F,’ and so it being that her birth certificate says X, M or F don’t match her birth certificate, so we’re not sure that she’s even going to be able to get a passport,” Wartell said.read moreA guide to Donald Trump’s war against Maine over transgender athletesby Christopher Burns17 hours agoApril 7, 2025Wartell said they have an appointment to apply for a passport later this month.“It feels scary right now as a queer family to not be able to leave the country if we needed to,” she said.
Maine Trans Net executive director Bre Danvers-Kidman said they have heard from people in Maine and beyond who have had a range of experiences with passport office employees, many of whom are not sure how to interpret the policy.“I’ve heard from trans people who have applied and who have had all of their documents aligning, and have still gotten their passport back with the wrong gender marker,” Danvers-Kidman said. “I’ve heard from other people about their application simply being rejected and mailed back with the other passport voided.
I’ve heard about people sending in their applications with original documents that came back shredded. I have heard from a cisgender woman who had her passport application rejected and got a letter saying that her application was corrected because of inconsistencies with her gender marker, and like, they wanted her to apply as a man.”On Feb.
8, 2025, the State Department sent an email that directed passport officials to review “all available evidence establishing biological sex at birth.” The email stated that if the application does not sufficiently establish the applicant’s biological sex at birth, “the application must be suspended.”read moreTrump administration gives Maine 10 days to certify schools have no ‘illegal DEI practices’by The Associated PressApril 3, 2025April 3, 2025Lambda Legal senior attorney Carl Charles said this is putting many people’s passport applications in limbo.
“It seems like, based on what we’re hearing, that passport officials are interpreting that guidance to mean that they should do everything in their power to discern someone’s sex assigned at birth. And as you can imagine, this is taking a ton of time,” Charles said. “So at a minimum, it looks like they’re pulling up your previous passport record.
So if you ever had a passport as a kid under your birth-assigned gender, it sounds like you’re going to get the incorrect gender back on your passport, even if you’re just submitting for a renewal.”The ACLU has filed suit against the Trump administration over the gender marker passport policy. ACLU attorney Sruti Swaninathan said there is real danger in using identification that doesn’t match a traveler’s gender identity.
“Now you have trans men having an F stamp on their passport. They look nothing like an F sex designation. They don’t identify with that designation at all.
And it’s even more confusing for TSA and CBP and other officers who are pulling these folks out of line to be like, ‘Is this a fraudulent document that you’re showing me, like this doesn’t seem to match who you are at all?’” Swaninathan said. “It’s just terrifying to have to travel with this document that, one, doesn’t match with the rest of their documents; two, doesn’t match who they are; and three, can put them at danger for being outed as trans every time they use it.”The ACLU is seeking a preliminary injunction, which would put the policy on hold while the case plays out in court.
A judge heard arguments on March 25, and is expected to rule on the injunction any day.This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public..
