Massachusetts’ US District Judge Julia Kobick granted a preliminary injunction to stop the Trump administration from banning US citizens from changing their gender markers, or choosing an X gender marker, on US passports — at least until a lawsuit challenging Trump’s policy has been heard.
Reports the Advocate:
U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick, an appointee of President Joe Biden, granted a motion Friday for a preliminary injunction, which keeps the policy from being enforced while a lawsuit against it is heard, the Associated Press reports.
The State Department implemented the policy, which affects transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people, in January in keeping with Donald Trump’s executive order recognizing only male and female sexes and denying that one’s gender can ever change — something that is at odds with the view of every major medical group. The policy does not affect existing passports but applies to new ones and renewals. Five trans people and two who are nonbinary filed suit against the policy in February in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.
“The Executive Order and the Passport Policy on their face classify passport applicants on the basis of sex and thus must be reviewed under intermediate judicial scrutiny,” Kobick wrote, according to the AP. “That standard requires the government to demonstrate that its actions are substantially related to an important governmental interest. The government has failed to meet this standard.”
Those who sued are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, its Massachusetts affiliate, and the law firm of law firm Covington & Burling. “We all have a right to accurate identity documents, and this policy invites harassment, discrimination, and violence against transgender Americans who can no longer obtain or renew a passport that matches who they are,” ACLU lawyer Sruti Swaminathan said, as reported by the AP.
“This decision is a critical victory against discrimination and for equal justice under the law,” Li Nowlin-Sohl, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, added in a press release. “But it’s also a historic win in the fight against this administration’s efforts to drive transgender people out of public life. The State Department’s policy is a baseless barrier for transgender and intersex Americans and denies them the dignity we all deserve. We will do everything we can to ensure this order is extended to everyone affected by the administration’s misguided and unconstitutional policy so that we all have the freedom to be ourselves.”
Read the complete Advocate story here.
Not a subscriber? Sign up today for a free subscription to Boston Spirit magazine, New England’s premier LGBT magazine. We will send you a copy of Boston Spirit 6 times per year and we never sell/rent our subscriber information. Click HERE to sign up.
