For transgender people in the United States, like for most people, having the proper identity documentation is essential: Going to the bank, applying for college or a job, going through airport security, and a run-in with law enforcement all require handing over a state-issued ID of some kind.
Often, state IDs can be updated with the appropriate gender, but the complexity of the process varies by state, as the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) has documented with a grading system. Birth certificates are still not amendable everywhere, according to the Transgender Law Center. (Name changes on state IDS and birth certificates require a separate name change court order, which typically means facing a judge.)
This is where passports come in. For many, a U.S. passport issued by the State Department is the most universal and least burdensome way to obtain a government-issued photo ID. In June 2010, then secretary of state Hillary Clinton instituted a policy that said obtaining a gender marker change on a passport required only a doctor’s letter certifying “clinical treatment” to “facilitate gender transition,” as noted by the NCTE.
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According to the State Department’s website, an applicant’s doctor determines what “appropriate clinical treatment is.” But there are no specific stipulations about gender-affirming surgeries included in these requirements, a first, as noted by The Daily Beast. That policy change has been hailed by the trans community as a major improvement in the process of obtaining corrected identity documents during a transition that includes gender marker changes (not all do).
But the reality may not be as simple for everyone. According to a government website, there are 7,400 facilities that can accept passport applications. A State Department spokesperson declined to answer whether or not employees at these facilities receive any specialized training in gender marker changes.
In total, Teen Vogue spoke with a dozen trans people who had applied, successfully or unsuccessfully, for gender marker changes on passports. Collectively, their stories suggest that applicants face an inconsistent and fickle bureaucracy when applying. Many said that, even if they were accepted, the process involved at least one rejection from the State Department and multiple attempts to get the changes accepted.
Trans people said they are having issues getting their gender markers changed on their passports.
Two transgender women recently told Them about issues they’d had obtaining U.S. passports with correct gender markers. Both of those women, Danni Askini and Janus Rose, said their passports had been retroactively revoked after already being issued with gender marker changes.
“We have seen reports of a few transgender individuals having difficulty renewing their passports,” a State Department spokesperson said in an email to Teen Vogue. “The Department has not changed policy or practice regarding the adjudication of passport applications for transgender individuals.”
A 22-year-old trans woman in Seattle, Washington, who asked to remain anonymous, said her doctor had sent the State Department a letter that was outright rejected. She says she applied in June, and was rejected the next month.
“There are stories of original documentation being ‘lost,’ which would be disastrous for some of us,” she told Teen Vogue via email. “I feel like that's a pretty normal fear for a trans person in this country, though, just working through another day, hoping our lives aren't turned completely sideways by the whim of a transphobic individual.”
A 28-year-old trans man in Virginia Beach, Virginia, who also asked not to be identified by name, said that the State Department rejected two letters: one from the Planned Parenthood clinic where he obtained hormone replacement therapy and another from a psychiatrist who had written similar letters that had been accepted in the past.
Emma Best, a trans woman in Boston, spoke with Teen Vogue about a tweet she posted regarding the disappearance of paperwork she submitted with her gender marker change application. Best said her application was denied and returned, but without the name change court order and doctor’s letter she had submitted with it.
She told Teen Vogue that the people she spoke with at the State Department said, "No matter what, they'd send the court orders back. But they didn't, and didn't send back the application or doctor's stuff, said it wasn't included.”
Others got their new passports, but not without trying several times, and sometimes experienced additional threats and pressure.
Apple Sullivan, a 27-year-old in New England, said that her first attempt failed because, in March, a postal worker had her fill out and submit the incorrect form. The State Department kept on file the doctor’s letter she had sent with the initial application, and used it with her second attempt; nine weeks after she sent the original application, she got her new passport.
A 27-year-old trans man in New York, who asked to remain anonymous, had a similar experience. He told Teen Vogue that his first application in April 2017 was rejected because, he says, a postal worker gave him incorrect information about the application process. He eventually reached out to other members of his local trans community and discovered that a library was a better place to apply, and he obtained his corrected passport in April of this year.
Veronica Freelove, a 30-year-old in Cleveland, Ohio, said her application was initially rejected in July, but was then accepted after she reached out to a civil rights office and an inspector general’s office regarding her case. She had two letters, which she believed met all of the requirements, and was told by someone from the State Department’s call line that “they couldn’t tell me why” the application had first been rejected.
“I felt my application was being held up for no reason,” she said. “I am not sure if my application was impeded due to personal bias of someone processing the application or it this was [some] kind of political[ly] motivated thing.” After she contacted the civil rights office, she was told that her application would be reviewed. “Then [the State Department] called me back and said that I supplied the necessary proof already and they had made a mistake. I got my application about three days later,” she said.
“After hearing the passport trouble of other trans people," Freelove said, "I had to speak up.”
These issues aren’t limited to the time of the Trump administration, either.
Gwen, a trans woman in California who asked that her last name not be used, told Teen Vogue that in a six-month period in 2015, she made nearly a dozen attempts in Massachusetts and Colorado to update an existing passport. Though she was legally an adult, she said, she was asked to deliver statements from an immediate family member attesting to her desire to change her information, which had to be signed, notarized, and submitted with her application.
“They would say that they couldn't accept the documentation I provided and then list a different set of documentation to send in to try again,” she said of the application process. “The last application I sent, which was successful...included a letter threatening to sue the State Department in that application, as well as reach out to our local representatives.” Gwen got her new passport in August 2015.
When asked by Teen Vogue about existing policy regarding letters from doctors, a State Department spokesperson said, “The Department’s policy guidelines were introduced on June 10, 2010. Since that point, medical certification of final gender reassignment surgery was no longer a requirement for issuance of a passport in the changed gender. Certification from an attending medical physician stating that the applicant has undergone appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition is acceptable.”
“If Consular Affairs receives an appropriate certification that transition is complete from a licensed physician, a full-validity passport will be issued,” the spokesperson continued. “If an applicant is in the beginning stages of transition, a limited passport will be issued to the individual. This can be replaced within two years from the date of issuance for a full-validity passport at no cost to the applicant once CA receives medical certification of the appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition.”
A spokesperson told Them, “Sexual reassignment surgery is not a prerequisite for updating the gender marker in a passport, and documents proving sexual reassignment surgery are not required.”
Some trans people say their passport gender marker changes were approved with no problem.
Others who spoke to Teen Vogue said they obtained a passport with the correct gender markers without incident. Inga Hensing of San Francisco said her passport was approved on the first try in March 2015 with a standard doctor’s letter from her local clinic, and Magdalene Visaggio likewise told Teen Vogue that her change had been approved and she received her new passport in July.
(In the interest of disclosure, I, a 27-year-old trans woman in Chicago, had my passport reissued with a correct name and gender marker on my first try in November 2017, after applying at a local post office.)
The wide range of experiences trans people have had obtaining correct passports may not indicate an internal policy change, but perhaps something just as dangerous.
The NCTE addressed recent cases of passport problems in a statement on Twitter: “NCTE has investigated recent concerns about passport processing for transgender people,” it reads. “All of the incidents we have seen involved unusual circumstances and bureaucratic mistakes by the passport agency and have caused very unfortunate hardship and anxiety for our community members.”
“Please note, the longstanding passport gender marker policy has not changed,” the statement continued. “We are closely monitoring this issue and are vigilant for any attack on the rights of our community.” It offered two links, one to an NCTE page on updating passports and another to the State Department page on the process.
The State Department told Them that the policies have not changed internally. If this is true, stories of transgender people unsuccessfully applying for gender marker changes may point to noncompliance. That is to say, federal agents charged with accepting, processing, or assisting in passport applications may not be following the existing protocol for approving gender marker changes. This could be due to a lack of training on the protocols, subjective standards of the submitted letters from doctors, or willful malfeasance, but it is currently impossible to apply a blanket understanding to the variety of issues trans people are having.
“While we cannot comment on individual passport applications due to privacy concerns, the Department addresses cases individually, and strives to treat all applicants with dignity and respect,” a State Department spokesperson told Teen Vogue. “We have provided passport services to transgender individuals for many years, and have extensive instructions for such applications on our website.”
As long as the possibility of updating state identification cards and birth certificates is subject to individual state rules, a widely accepted federal form of identification is an essential alternative to one or both of these documents, making passports a valuable asset for trans people.
Trans people worried about applying for a passport can reach out to community members, social service agencies, and LGBTQ organizations to see who can offer advice about which facilities in their area are best for applying for a passport with a corrected gender marker.
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