A lawsuit files April 25, on behalf of seven transgender U.S. citizens, including one who is nonbinary, is challenging the Trump administration’s policy denying them U.S. passports with accurate sex designations. The discriminatory passport policy exposes transgender U.S. citizens to harassment, abuse, and discrimination, in some cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling, by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes.
“Like many transgender people, I experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through public spaces, especially where a photo ID is required,” said Zander Schlacter, the lead plaintiff and a New York-based textile artist and designer. “My safety is further at risk because of my inaccurate passport. I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of border officials or anyone who views my passport.”
“Zander is not alone,” said Carl Charles, a Senior Attorney for Lambda Legal, the firm representing the seven individuals. “Each of our clients, and indeed thousands of transgender people across the country, are experiencing similar and very serious harm because of the government’s decision to deny them accurate passports.
“Our clients have concluded that international travel is now effectively impossible when they are forced to carry an identity document that shares private and inaccurate information without their consent. This needlessly cruel and discriminatory policy exposes them to the very real dangers of harassment and discrimination and complicates their lives simply because of who they are.”
The other public plaintiffs are two transgender women, Jill Tran of Maryland and Lia Hepler-Mackey of California, both recent college graduates. The pseudonymous plaintiffs include one nonbinary person, Kris Koe, a full-time university student and part-time tutor and grocery clerk living in Connecticut, and three transgender men, Peter Poe, a Maryland-based college student, David Doe, a Pennsylvania lawyer, and Robert Roe, a U.S. Foreign Service Officer living in Europe.
Each plaintiff experienced a similar outcome when they applied to renew a passport. Some already had a correct sex designation. Others needed to update the sex designation on their existing passport, or to update their legal name only. In each case, and despite supplying the required documents, they all received passports that reflected the State Department’s decision about their “biological sex.”
“The anti-transgender animus is clear and intentional,” Charles added. “We have a Foreign Service officer potentially unable to report to a new post, a lawyer now prevented from visiting his spouse’s elderly parents with declining [health], and a college student forced to take a long-planned trip to visit his father’s birthplace with a passport that tells everyone he is transgender, despite his always being correctly perceived as male. The State Department’s focus should be on accurate identity verification, including by communicating the sex someone lives as, in accordance with their gender identity. This is yet another deliberate targeting for political gain, ensuring transgender people are singled out for harassment, discrimination, and at worst, detention or physical violence.”
