Transgender Tennesseans rush to get passports as Trump turns to SCOTUS to enforce gender marker ban

(Anne-Marie Miller/Getty Images)

LGBTQ+ advocates in Tennessee are once again working to assist transgender residents in obtaining passports that reflect their gender identity before a window for the opportunity potentially comes to a close. 

The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to reinstate its ban on issuing U.S. passports that reflect the chosen sex markers of transgender and nonbinary individuals.

A federal appeals court earlier this month upheld a temporary injunction against the Trump administration ban, which began with an executive order issued on the president’s first day in office. President Donald Trump’s order declared that the U.S. recognizes only two sexes, male and female, and it directed the State Department to issue passports that “reflect the holder’s sex.”

Trump order barring passport gender marker changes leaves transgender Tennesseans without IDs

In practice, the policy froze the ability of transgender individuals to obtain a passport that reflected their lived gender. 

In Tennessee, where state officials in 2023 denied trans people the right to make gender changes on driver’s licenses, Trump’s executive order jeopardized the only available form of government-issued ID available that accurately reflects the gender of transgender and nonbinary Tennesseans.

Molly Quinn, executive director for OUT Memphis, said she worries months of uncertain litigation over the ban have created confusion or discouraged people from pursuing a passport.  

Currently, transgender and nonbinary individuals have the right to apply for a new or updated passport that reflects their gender identity.

The ACLU of Tennessee and OUT Memphis, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, are holding virtual clinics intended to reach residents across the state through the passport application process, including offering guidance on applying on an expedited basis, Quinn said. 

“We’ll keep doing them until our legal partners tell us to pause,” she said.