Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy

Lambda Legal on April filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary people who are challenging the Trump-Vance administration s passport agenda The lawsuit which Lambda Legal filed in U S District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore alleges the agenda that bans the State Department from issuing passports with X gender markers has caused and is causing grave and immediate harm to transgender people like plaintiffs in violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection Two of the seven plaintiffs Jill Tran and Peter Poe live in Maryland The State Department Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the federal regime are defendants The discriminatory passport protocol exposes transgender U S citizens to harassment abuse and discrimination in a few cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes announced Lambda Legal in a press release Zander Schlacter a New York-based textile artist and designer is the lead plaintiff The lawsuit notes he legally changed his name and gender in New York Schlacter less than a week before President Donald Trump s inauguration sent an expedited application to update his legal name on his passport using form DS- Trump once he took office signed an executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with X gender markers The lawsuit notes Schlacter received his new passport in February The passport has his correct legal name but now has an incorrect sex marker of F or female notes the lawsuit Mr Schlacter also received a letter from the State Department notifying him that the date of birth place of birth name or sex was corrected on your passport application with sex circled in red The stated reason was to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth I like multiple transgender people experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through general spaces especially where a photo ID is required announced Schlacter in the press release that communicated the lawsuit My safety is further at threat because of my inaccurate passport I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of demarcation officers or anyone who views my passport Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June reported the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas Dana Zzyym an intersex U S Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary in filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an X gender marker Zzyym in October received the first gender-neutral American passport Lambda Legal represented Zzyym The State Department agenda took effect on April Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January Germany Denmark Finland and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued progress advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U S A federal judge in Boston earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven trans and nonbinary people The post Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport framework appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta