Bid to remove ‘Gender X’ from U.S. passports: Republican wants documents to show only ‘two sexes’
Bid to remove ‘gender X’ from US passports: Republican introduces bill to ensure government documents show there are ‘two genders’
- Chip Roy, a Texas congressman, is trying to undo a Biden executive order from last year
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs started issuing gender-neutral passports last year
- But the bill has little chance of becoming law as it will not pass the Democratic-controlled Senate
Americans will no longer be allowed to declare themselves as gender neutral in their passports if one Republican lawmaker has his way.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs started issuing travel documents with a gender neutral option on April 11 last year.
Officials at the time said the move was in the name of “promoting inclusion” for “non-binary, intersex, and gender-nonconforming individuals.”
It was the first federal government agency to do so.
The State Department issued the first U.S. passport with an “X” gender marker, the United States’ first intersex passport ever, to Marine veteran Dana Zzym
Congressman Chip Roy has introduced legislation to ban gender neutral passports in the US
But now a bill drafted by Chip Roy, a Texas congressman, aims to overturn the Biden administration’s dictate that allowed people to make the switch without medical documentation.
Senator Ted Cruz’s 50-year-old former attorney and ex-chief of staff said there are only two genders and government documents “should reflect that self-evident truth.”
“Passports are there to identify people accurately, not to pretend radical gender ideology. Anti-science, radical gender ideology has no place in our government, and it’s time for Congress to step in and restore sanity,” he said angrily.
Roy has dubbed his bill the “Passport Sanity Act,” and it’s already garnered support from fellow Republicans.
The bill could pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, but it could struggle to pass in the Democrat-led Senate.
But supporters of the Biden administration consider the move of the ‘X’ mark on the passport application as a milestone in the recognition of the rights of people who do not identify as male or female.
“Every American deserves the freedom to be themselves. But far too many American transgender people continue to face systemic barriers, discrimination and acts of violence,” the White House said at the time last year.
Roy’s bill could struggle to gain support in the Democrat-controlled Senate
The United States is among only a handful of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Nepal and Canada, where citizens can designate a gender other than male or female in their passports.
They include facilitating travel, providing resources for transgender children and their families, improving access to federal services and benefits, and promoting inclusion and visibility in federal data.
Transgender rights have come to the fore in recent years in the culture wars playing out in parts of the United States, along with issues such as reproductive rights.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis became a darling of the conservative right when he banned transitional operations for minors in the Sunshine State and took on Disney for criticizing its “Don’t Say Gay” law that regulates sex education in schools.
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has also vowed to ban transgender men from participating in women’s sports if he returns to the White House for a second term in 2025.