These Passports Are Now Banned in the US After Donald Trump Signs New Gender Executive Order

After returning to the White House, Donald Trump wasted no time reshaping federal policies. Within hours, multiple executive orders were signed, reversing key decisions from the previous administration. Among them, a directive on gender recognition has drawn intense scrutiny.

A new order enforces a strict binary definition of gender across all federal documentation. Non-binary and transgender individuals now face restrictions on passports, legal records, and other official documents. Rapid implementation has left many scrambling to understand the consequences and seek legal options.

Beyond passports, the order carries broader implications, affecting legal documents, prisons, and federal policies concerning gender identity. Advocacy groups are mobilizing, lawsuits are being prepared, and affected individuals are scrambling for alternatives. Understanding the full scope of these changes is essential for those directly impacted and anyone concerned about the future of gender identity rights in the United States.

The Executive Order That Sparked the “Ban”

The new policy stems from Executive Order 14168, signed by President Trump on his first day in office. Titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” the order sets out to redefine sex across all federal agencies.

Its core mandate is to have the U.S. government recognize only two sexes, male and female, defining them as an unchangeable biological classification determined at birth. This directive was aimed at every corner of the federal government, but a specific provision ignited the passport controversy. The order explicitly instructed the State Department to ensure all government-issued identification, including passports, aligns with this strict binary definition.

This move directly reversed the policy that had been in place since 2022. Under the previous rules, applicants could self-select their gender as ‘M’ or ‘F’ without needing medical certification. More importantly, it had introduced a third gender marker, ‘X’, for non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming citizens—an option that the new executive order effectively eliminated for all future applications.

The Immediate Fallout: Applications Halted

The executive order’s impact wasn’t delayed or phased in—it was a hard stop. Within days of its signing in January 2025, the U.S. State Department acted on the new directive. It officially suspended the processing of all passport applications that requested an ‘X’ gender marker or sought to change an existing ‘M’ or ‘F’ to align with a person’s gender identity.

For anyone visiting the State Department’s website, the change was stark: the ‘X’ marker option simply vanished from the online application forms. But for citizens already in the pipeline, the situation was more alarming. 

Those with pending requests were suddenly placed in a state of limbo, their applications frozen with no clear path forward. This created a particular crisis for transgender individuals who had already mailed in their old passports for an update; they were now left without their primary travel document and feared it could be held by the government indefinitely.

The abrupt policy reversal didn’t just cause a bureaucratic delay—it slammed the door on a process thousands of Americans relied on and set the stage for an inevitable legal battle.

The Courtroom Battle: A Judge Blocks the Policy

The administration’s passport policy was met with swift legal opposition. In February 2025, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and partner organizations filed a federal lawsuit, Orr v. Trump, on behalf of transgender and non-binary individuals directly affected by the new rule. The lawsuit argued that the executive order was unconstitutional and purposefully discriminated against a class of American citizens.

The case landed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, where it came before Judge Julia Kobick. In a pivotal ruling in June 2025, Judge Kobick issued a preliminary injunction that applied to the entire country. This powerful court order effectively blocked the State Department from enforcing the controversial passport policy, forbidding the government from denying applicants a passport with an M, F, or X marker that accurately reflected their gender identity.

In her decision, Judge Kobick offered a sharp rebuke of the government’s justification for the policy. She wrote that the executive order was “candid in its rejection of the identity of an entire group” and found that the passport rule was likely motivated by “irrational prejudice toward transgender Americans.” For the time being, the judiciary had placed a firm check on the executive branch’s directive.

Getting a Passport Right Now: The Temporary Workaround

With the court blocking the executive order, the State Department was forced to create a two-tiered system. For now, there is a specific, paper-based path for applicants covered by the Orr v. Trump injunction—referred to as “class members”—to get a passport with their self-identified gender marker. This generally includes any citizen who needs to apply for a new passport, renew one, or change the name or sex marker on their document.

For those who qualify, the process is a bureaucratic workaround that bypasses the current online system:

1. Use a PDF Form: Applicants cannot use the standard online application filler. Instead, they must download and complete a PDF version of the appropriate passport form (like the DS-11 for new applicants).
2. Complete a Mandatory Attestation: Along with the application, a separate attestation form must be signed. This document serves as a legal declaration that the applicant is part of the court-certified class and is where they can officially select ‘M’, ‘F’, or ‘X’ as their desired gender marker.
3. Submit the Paper Application: The completed application, the signed attestation, and all other required documents must be submitted in person or by mail.

It is critical to note that this is a fragile and temporary situation. This workaround exists only because of the preliminary court order. The Trump administration is actively appealing the decision, and a higher court could lift the injunction at any time. Should that happen, the State Department would likely revert immediately to enforcing the strict binary policy of the executive order.

Are Existing Passports Safe to Use?

Following the court-ordered changes and policy reversals, a key question has emerged for millions of Americans: are existing passports still safe to use?

The answer is clear: yes. The State Department has confirmed that all U.S. passports that have already been issued remain fully valid for all purposes, including international travel. This applies to every document, including those with an ‘X’ gender marker or an ‘M’ or ‘F’ marker that was self-selected under the previous policy.

These passports remain legitimate proof of U.S. citizenship and identity until their printed expiration date. The entire political and legal battle is focused exclusively on the rules for issuing new documents, not on invalidating existing ones.

An Unsettled Future

So, what’s the bottom line? This whole “banned passport” story was never really about the passport already in your drawer. It’s about a high-stakes tug-of-war over who gets to define identity in the United States.

On one side, you have a presidential order trying to lock in a strict male/female binary for all new documents. On the other, you have a federal court that put a stop to it—for now. And that “for now” is the part that matters. This isn’t a permanent fix. The current ability for transgender and non-binary Americans to get an accurate passport rests entirely on a temporary court order that could be overturned on appeal.

For thousands of people, everything is stuck in this legal limbo, caught in a fight with no clear end in sight.