Trans And Nonbinary Americans Win Key Legal Victory Against Trump Administration’s ID Policy
By recognizing the constitutional right to gender-accurate identification, a federal judge sends a clear message that policy must respect trans and nonbinary lives.
A federal judge in Boston has struck a major blow against the Trump administration’s passport policy that barred transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans from obtaining documents reflecting their gender identity.
In a ruling issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick blocked the State Department from enforcing a policy that required passport applicants to list their “biological sex at birth” and denied the option of an “X” gender marker. Kobick, who had already issued a narrower injunction in April covering just six individuals, expanded her decision to apply nationwide, granting class action status to the case.
This development comes amid a wave of legal challenges to an executive order President Trump signed shortly after returning to office in January. That order directed the federal government to recognize only two sexes—male and female—and instructed agencies to align all identification documents accordingly. The State Department soon revised its passport policies, ending the option for applicants to self-identify their gender and eliminating the nonbinary “X” marker introduced during the Biden administration.
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Judge Kobick found the revised policy likely violated the Fifth Amendment by discriminating based on sex, stemming from what she described as “irrational prejudice toward transgender Americans.”
“This decision is a critical victory against discrimination and for equal justice under the law,” said Li Nowlin-Sohl, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “But it’s also a historic win in the fight against this administration’s efforts to drive transgender people out of public life.”
In contrast, the White House brought out its familiar playbook for when something doesn’t go its way. “This is yet another attempt by a rogue judge to thwart President Trump’s agenda and push radical gender ideology that defies biological truth,” said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly in a statement.
The executive order underpinning the case had ripple effects across federal agencies, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly directing staff in January to “suspend any application requesting an X sex marker” and to deny any request to update a passport’s sex designation from what the Trump policy defined as fixed at birth.
Kobick’s order does not end the case, but it stops the enforcement of the policy while the litigation continues. Her decision makes it clear that the court sees serious constitutional concerns with the administration’s approach.
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For transgender and nonbinary people, mismatched identification can be more than a bureaucratic headache. It can lead to harassment, denial of services, and dangerous situations at borders and checkpoints.
For years prior to Trump’s return, the State Department allowed people to update the gender marker on their passports. In 2022, the Biden administration made it even easier by allowing applicants to choose an “X” for nonbinary, without requiring medical documentation.
About 1.6 million U.S. adults identify as transgender or gender-nonconforming, and an estimated 5 million+ Americans are intersex, according to research by the Williams Institute at UCLA.
While the court’s decision marks a victory for these communities, the broader legal and political battle over gender identity continues. But for now, Americans who don’t fit into a binary definition of gender can once again access a fundamental document that reflects who they are.
