6 hours Ago
As part of this policy, the Department of State eliminated the “X” gender option from passport applications and placed a freeze on the prior policy allowing individuals to select a gender other than male or female, or choose intersex or nonbinary.
U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick, appointed under the Biden administration, made the ruling to temporarily halt the policy. Kobick had previously ruled in April to temporarily block the policy for a group of six plaintiffs who had brought a lawsuit. Her most recent ruling on Tuesday expands that decision to nationwide coverage.
Legal and Psychological Implications
In her decision, Judge Kobick said the lawsuit against the policy had a high probability of success. She concluded that the policy “impermissibly discriminates based on sex” and is “arbitrary and capricious,” meaning that it seems to have resulted from either prejudice against transgender people or some other reason that was not rational. Forcing transgender and nonbinary people, who are already marginalized communities, to possess travel documents that fail to reflect their gender identity could subject them to distress, harassment, and safety concerns while traveling, Kobick said.
This form of mismatch can cause an excess of psychological distress, harassment, stalking, and suicidality among affected patients, she says. Kobick highlighted the fact that providing access to gender-affirming identity documents is accepted as a standard treatment for gender dysphoria.
Trump’s Order and The Rationale Behind It
Named “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” Trump’s executive order instructed all federal agencies to refer to male and female sexes exclusively. The order alleged that sex is a biological fact and cannot be altered. And it argued that ignoring biological sex erodes women’s rights and endangers public safety.
The order referred to the increasing fears that some women are having about men who identify as women being allowed into women’s spaces, including domestic violence shelters and workplace showers. The Trump administration defended the policy as necessary to protect dignity, safety, scientific truth, and public trust in government systems.
Instead, Judge Kobick held that the federal government failed to provide adequate evidence that since the “D” policy decision was made, it had a legitimate government reason for the change, which in turn supports her having entered the temporary injunction requiring all passport applicants to be able to prove binary gender simply by submitting their birth certificates or a physician’s note.
