ACLU demands Trump for attacking Trans Americans, who are confused and terrified

Miles and his wife requested passports in December. Eleven days later, his wife, a CIS woman, received her new passport by mail, but thousands, a trans man, no. His passport application status is currently “on hold”, and says that the last time he called to ask about it, a few days after President Donald Trump took office, a government worker told him that he was not recovering his passport or its documents.

Thousands is not alone.

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The State Department has stopped issuing passports with a “X” gender score Executive order Signed by Trump on his first day in office. The change in politics has left trans and non -binary people fighting to obtain passports with their correct gender markers. In a class action complaint filed on Friday, the ACLU demanded Trump, the State Department, Secretary of State Frame And dangerous.

When Miles requested his passport, he presented his former passport, a court order that showed his name change, a copy of his marriage certificate and his amended birth certificate and his driver’s license. In response, he received a letter requesting the amendment of his birth certificate, to which thousands sent a certified copy of the court order of his name and change of gender marker. Although he confirmed that the State Department received the documents, his passport application is now “waiting” and no longer “in process”, according to the documentation reviewed by Rolling stone.

“I am overwhelmed by the fact that I don’t feel safe here and now I can’t leave,” says Miles. “I don’t hope to get (my passport) never and I don’t hope to recover my things.” The birth certificate he sent was the only one he had with his right name and gender. “I will not lie, I had a collapse when I realized that I wasn’t recovering that,” he says. Since then, Miles has ordered four additional copies of its amended birth certificate, just in case.

Malita Picasso, attorney for the ACL LGBTQ & HIV project, says that confusion around politics has a purpose. ACLU is receiving reports from some trans, intersex and non -binary people who receive new passports with gender markers that reflect their gender assigned to birth instead of their gender identity, while other people have not received anything. “Part of the strategy of this administration has really been to create this sensation of chaos,” says Picasso. “Fear has a purpose. It is the purpose of all this uncertainty. “

In the complaint aimed at politics, ACLU alleges violations of the federal clause of equal protection, which requires states to treat all persons equally under the law. “It cannot be justified at any level of judicial scrutiny, and erroneously seeks to erase the reality that transgender, intersex and non -binary people exist today as they have always done,” says the complaint. ACLU is also raising claims under the Right to travelhe Right to informative privacyand the Right to freedom of expression. Meanwhile, trans people, not binary and intersex are worried, for their ability to travel, about whether their current passports are considered valid, about what will happen if they try to re -enter the country after leaving. “The level of fear is difficult to describe,” says Picasso. “It is clearly motivated by Animus and wanting to treat so many Sucker’s blows to the trans and non -binary community possible.”

Syd, a 25 -year -old who is not binary, wonders if his driver and passport license are already considered valid. They simply canceled two trips that had planned in February due to confusion. “I don’t know if I can fly,” says Syd. “I don’t know if my documents are valid at this time because they have a gender marker X”. They are planning to request a new passport under the genre that were assigned to birth. They hope they can receive one, even if it does not reflect their gender identity, partly because they are considering moving from the country with their partner. As an interracial couple, says Syd, they don’t feel safe. “We really don’t have an option at this time.”

Chanel, a 33 -year -old trans woman in Florida, does not expect to obtain the passport she recently requested. To run, he had to send the official copy of his amended birth certificate, leaving it without documentation. And even if he gets a passport, he wonders if he will declare his genre as a man despite his driver’s license and birth certificate that indicates that he is a woman. “I feel that they are delaying me in a country that doesn’t want to give me my basic rights,” she says. “I’m afraid because if I need to seek refuge elsewhere, I can’t leave.”

Chanel does not understand: if the administration believes that trans people are a problem, why will they not let him get a passport and leave? She has submitted everything required by a passport application, but has not heard an update. “It feels like, as a trans person, we only stay in the dark. We have no one to protect us. “

Days before Trump was inaugurated and issued the executive order that caused the State Department to change its passport issuance policy, Holly, 36, said a passport for his 17 -year -old trans son, August. Now, he wonders if August was one of the last trans people to obtain a passport, who used to leave the country. “We wanted to leave before the day of the inauguration because I had the feeling that it was going to be bad quite quickly,” says Holly, although he was surprised by the reports that trans and non -binary people do not receive their vital documents.

Max, 20, whose name was changed for security concerns, knew that things would also become bad, but did not realize how fast the tide would change. “We thought we would have more time on the first day,” he says. “It is definitely like a panic and try to organize everything as quickly as possible so that we can survive.” Max and his wife Trans requested passports, but when they verify the status of their requests, they do not exist either. Now, Max tells me that things are gathering: ordering new birth certificates and packing Bobs in case they have to leave their red state with little notification. “No one knows what is going to happen,” he says. “I’m just trying to prepare for the worst.”

In A Tiktok video posted last week That has been seen more than 1.1 million times, Mary, a transgender woman, catalogs her difficulties in obtaining a new passport, calling the executive order an “effective travel ban.” A few days after that first video, Mary published an update. She had obtained her passport, but marked her genre as a man. “I love the United States,” says Mary in the update, kissing the passport in her hands. “But this is not the America that I know.”

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