US freezes passport applications with 'X' gender markers following Trump order

The US State Department has stopped processing passport applications with "X" gender markers following an executive order from President Donald Trump which states that the US recognizes only two sexes: male and female, according to reports.

According to an internal email obtained by The Guardian, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, following the executive order signed by Trump on Monday, instructed department staff to enforce the new guidelines, stating: "The policy of the United States is that an individual's sex is not changeable."

Trump's executive mandate declares that the US recognizes only "two sexes, male and female," which he describes as an "immutable biological reality."

The executive order, titled "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," requires government-issued IDs, including passports, visas and entry cards, to reflect "immutable biological classification as either male or female."

The State Department first issued passports with the nonbinary "X" gender marker in April 2022.

On Thursday, State Department staff were instructed to "suspend any application requesting an X sex marker" and to "suspend any application seeking to change their sex marker" in accordance with the executive order, according to the Guardian.

The NOTUS news site reported, citing the White House, that Monday's executive order does not apply retroactively or invalidate existing passports, but renewals must reflect the sex assigned at birth.

Anadolu reached out to the State Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response.