The United States has begun stripping trans people of their right to safe travel. In early 2025, under the Trump administration, the State Department halted all gender marker changes on passports and began denying renewals to trans individuals whose documents do not match their birth-assigned sex. This is more than bureaucratic red tape—this is a deliberate attempt to endanger trans lives, trap people within hostile borders, and force outing on a global scale.
No other Western democracy enforces policies like this. Not Canada. Not the UK. Not the EU. But under Republican leadership, the U.S. is leading the world in government-enforced transphobia.
19th News: Trump Admin Halts Transgender Passport Updates
How Passport Changes Impact Safety
Passports are more than travel documents—they are a basic requirement for global mobility, legal identification, and personal security. By denying trans people accurate passports, the GOP has put thousands of lives in direct danger.
1. Forcing People to Travel with the Wrong Gender Marker Is a Death Sentence in Some Countries
- Many nations criminalize being transgender.
- In Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Malaysia, being trans is illegal. Travelers who arrive with documentation that does not match their gender expression can be immediately detained, denied entry, or worse.
- In places like Russia, Uganda, and parts of Eastern Europe, anti-LGBTQIA+ crackdowns have escalated, with trans people facing state-sanctioned violence.
- A mismatched passport can result in deportation, arrest, or assault.
- A trans woman traveling with a male marker risks being denied entry, detained, or forced into a men's prison.
- A nonbinary person with an "X" marker—now eliminated by the Trump administration—may not even be allowed through border security.
- U.S. citizens are already being turned away from travel.
- Reports have surfaced of trans Americans being blocked from boarding flights, detained in secondary screening, and harassed by customs officials when their passports "do not match their appearance."
By refusing to allow trans people to correct their documentation, the GOP is knowingly putting lives at risk.
CBS News: Hunter Schafer Speaks Out on Forced Gender Marker Change
2. Trans People Are Now Trapped in a Country That Is Actively Stripping Their Rights
With no passport, there is no escape.
- Trans Americans who planned to relocate for safety, seek asylum, or move abroad for work or family are now blocked from leaving.
- Those who have already left the country are unable to renew their passports, leaving them at risk of being stranded without legal documentation in a foreign country.
- Refugees and asylum seekers who hoped to flee anti-trans policies in GOP-controlled states can no longer obtain travel documents.
This is not just about restricting movement. It is entrapment.
Vox: Legal Challenges to Anti-Trans Passport Policies
3. The New Policy Forces Outing at Every Border Crossing
- Passports are checked at every international checkpoint. A trans person with a gender marker that does not match their gender presentation is automatically flagged for further scrutiny.
- Hostile border agents can deny entry, harass, or detain trans travelers.
- Customs officials are not bound by anti-discrimination laws. They have broad power to question travelers, demand proof of gender, and even conduct invasive searches.
For trans people, this means every trip is now a forced outing at a government checkpoint.
- A trans man traveling with a passport that says “F” may be treated as a suspicious traveler.
- A trans woman whose passport says “M” may be subjected to humiliating strip searches.
- A nonbinary person with no recognized gender marker may be denied entry altogether.
In some countries, this kind of forced outing is a death sentence.
It's unlawful for transgender people to change the sex on their IDs, Texas AG Ken Paxton says
The Slippery Slope: How Women's and Minority Rights Are Next
The attack on transgender travel rights is just the beginning. The same legal mechanisms being used to deny trans people passports and IDs could soon be weaponized against cisgender women, particularly those who have changed their names due to marriage or divorce. If the government refuses to recognize gender marker changes, what stops them from denying legal name changes as well?
This is already a concern for voting rights. Many Republican-led states have passed strict voter ID laws that disproportionately impact women who have changed their legal names. If states begin restricting legal identity changes under the guise of “biological accuracy,” millions of women could face new obstacles to voting, renewing identification, or traveling internationally.
Beyond women, this policy opens the door to further racial and religious discrimination. The United States has a history of restricting passports based on ethnicity, national origin, and political affiliation. If trans people can be selectively denied travel rights, what stops the government from revoking passports based on race, immigration status, or political beliefs? The GOP has already pushed for policies that restrict immigration based on religion and ethnicity—this is just another step toward a broader crackdown on human rights.
What is happening to trans people today is a warning for everyone else. Once the government normalizes revoking identity rights for one group, it becomes easier to do it to others.
This Is a Republican Attack on Human Rights
This policy is not about security. It is not about administration. It is about erasing trans people from public life.
- The GOP-controlled State Department is reversing trans rights that have existed for over a decade.
- The GOP-controlled courts are allowing states like Texas and Florida to retroactively strip gender marker changes from IDs and birth certificates.
- The GOP's end goal is legal erasure. If trans people cannot travel, cannot access identification, and cannot legally exist, they are forced into a position where survival itself becomes impossible.
This Is a Crisis. It Must Be Treated Like One.
Trans Americans are being stripped of their fundamental right to exist legally.
- Passports are being denied.
- Travel is being blocked.
- People are being forced into outing themselves in dangerous situations.
This is not the time for passive concern. It is time for legal action, mass resistance, and international pressure to hold the U.S. accountable for human rights violations.
The Republican Party is not stopping here. They are seeing how much they can take before the public fights back.
It is time to fight back.