California still allows people to change their gender marker<\/a> or use \u201cX\u201d on state-issued documents like their birth certificate or their driver\u2019s license<\/a>.<\/p>\n Levy, who specializes in name and gender marker changes<\/a> through their nonprofit\u00a0Identity Affirmation Workshop<\/a>, said they\u2019ve seen clientele increase \u201cpretty significantly\u201d since the November election.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople saw the writing on the wall,\u201d said Levy, who has been hosting free gender marker and name change clinics with other LGBTQ+ organizations, including the Oakland LGBTQ Center<\/a>. \u201cThe whole process can be really daunting,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n But what does changing your name or gender marker on official government documents now entail? KQED spoke to Levy about what trans, intersex and nonbinary people can expect during the lengthy process.<\/p>\n Please bear in mind that this is not legal advice, and it\u2019s always a good idea to talk to an expert about your individual situation before taking concrete action \u2014 especially because current events may have superseded some information online. Jump straight to: Organizations and resources offering advice about documentation changes for trans folks.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Jump to:<\/strong><\/p>\n Back in June, the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts ruled<\/a> that the State Department \u201cmust allow people with a gender identity different from their sex assigned at birth to self-select the sex designation on their passport,\u201d leaving a brief window of time in which trans Americans could update or renew their documents accordingly.<\/p>\n But that window is closed once again<\/a>. Following the Supreme Court\u2019s decision on Nov. 6<\/a>, all new, renewed and replacement passports will now use the gender marker assigned at birth \u2014 and the \u2018X\u2019 gender option is no longer available.<\/p>\n While there\u2019s still another decision to come from the First Circuit Court of Appeals left, which could lead to another brief window in which trans people can once again adjust their gender markers, this timeline is \u201creally hard to predict,\u201d Levy said.<\/p>\n \u201cMy advice remains the same: that it is better to have a passport with the wrong gender marker on it than it is to have no passport at all,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n In addition to the confusion and anxiety caused by the frequent policy changes, the situation remains \u201cdemoralizing\u201d for many trans, intersex, and gender non-conforming people across the country, Levy said \u2014 people who were already reeling from the Trump administration\u2019s January executive order affecting their passports.<\/p>\n A 24-year-old trans man told NPR<\/a> in February that after filing paperwork to change his gender marker to male on his passport before<\/em> Trump\u2019s inauguration, he received a passport marking him as female. Euphoria<\/em> actor Hunter Schafer detailed on TikTok<\/a> how her new passport lists her as male, despite having female on her government documents since she was a teenager.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just sort of scared of the way this stuff slowly gets implemented,\u201d Schafer said in her social post, explaining her concerns about possibly being forced to out herself in front of a border patrol agent.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are never going to stop existing. I\u2019m never going to stop being trans,\u201d Schafer said in her February video. \u201cA letter and a passport can\u2019t change that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s really no purpose for policies like this one, apart from making the people it affects\u2019 lives miserable,\u201d Levy said.<\/p>\n The U.S. State Department\u2019s site said that a passport with an \u201cX\u201d marker or that \u201clists a sex other than [your] sex as defined by the White House executive order\u201d will \u201cremain valid until its expiration date,\u201d<\/a> and that you can still use it to travel in and out of the U.S.<\/p>\n Acknowledging the anxiety some may have around traveling these passports, Lambda Legal, an organization serving LGBTQ+ people<\/a>, said it\u2019s not aware of any confirmed incidents \u201cwhere individuals have faced problems leaving or reentering the United States using an unexpired passport issued prior to the 2025 policy changes \u2014 including those with an X gender marker.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.kqed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/03\/250226-NAMEGENDERMARKERS-03-BL-KQED.jpg\")
What\u2019s the current situation for trans people\u2019s U.S. passports?<\/h2>\n
Can people who have changed their gender marker or have \u201cX\u201d still use their passports to travel?<\/h2>\n