US Supreme Court allows govt to require biological sex marker
A ruling by the US Supreme Court has greenlit requiring that the country’s passports indicate the holder’s sex recorded at birth. The temporary order is being seen as a win for US President Donald Trump’s pushback on what he terms “gender ideology extremism.”
The decision issued on Thursday states that “displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth,” and that the government is “merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment.”
It follows months of lower-court proceedings, with US District Judge Julia Kobick attempting to block the policy, claiming it was discriminatory and rooted in “irrational prejudice.” In June, she blocked enforcement nationwide. The US Court of Appeals in September declined to put her injunction on hold. The Supreme Court’s stay permits enforcement while the case proceeds.
The policy stems from an executive order Trump signed in January titled ‘Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government’. It directs agencies, including the State Department, to require that identification documents reflect “sex,” defined as an immutable biological classification, and to remove the nonbinary “X” marker allowed under the previous administration.
Critics of the move have argued that the restrictions expose transgender individuals to harassment and violence when documents do not match their gender identity.
The Trump administration, however, has said the change ensures federal documents “reflect biological truth” and prevents “inaccurate sex designations” on identification used for communication with foreign governments. Attorney General Pam Bondi has praised the Supreme Court ruling as a “victory for common sense,” while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called it “a huge win.”
The State Department had since 1992 allowed sex designations to differ from sex assigned at birth with medical documentation, and in 2021, under former president Joe Biden, it added an “X” option. However, the Supreme Court’s latest order pauses that approach.
