'I nearly gave up': American traveler wins passport battle

Opening the package containing his new passport was an emotional moment for Patrick. He waited nearly a year for it, and the former Texas resident wasn't even sure it would be valid after receiving a useless one in the summer with an incorrect gender marker.

Patrick, who is identified by his first name only for safety and privacy reasons, initially applied to renew his passport at the end of 2024 to go on a honeymoon with his wife. Though hers was approved in a week, his application and other vital documents, including his gender change court order, were held up.

He is one of the thousands of transgender, nonbinary and intersex Americans affected by President Donald Trump's executive order on Jan. 20, 2025, acknowledging only two sexes – male and female – designated at birth.

Under the order, the U.S. State Department said in an email to USA TODAY in March that it would issue passports only "with a male or female sex marker that matches the applicant's biological sex." Applications for the "X" gender marker – implemented in 2022 to accommodate the 1.2 million nonbinary Americans and about 5.6 million intersex U.S. residents – or binary changes were immediately suspended.

After being sent the wrong passport, Patrick had nearly given up. Then he saw some people on social media get theirs after resubmitting paperwork for free, such as TikTokers kaceymotherfreakingjames and sam.b67, during a court-ordered pause in the class action federal lawsuit Orr v. Trump, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Massachusetts and the law firm Covington & Burling LLP. Patrick followed suit, reapplying in September 2025.

"It was wild because I'd already gone through this the first time and waited forever and then was disappointed, so I tried not to get my hopes up, to be honest with you," Patrick said.

Less than two weeks later, Patrick finally had the right passport in his hands. With it, new doors have opened. He's now starting a new job as a flight attendant for a major U.S. carrier – a highly visible job he felt "was out of my reach" as a transgender person and impossible without a correct passport.

More than a year after Trump's order, members of the transgender, nonbinary and intersex community continue to be left in uncertainty as they persevere for their right to an accurate identification document affect their ability to move freely and more. The short window during the court-ordered pause closed in November 2025.

Even those who received their passports after months of waiting don't feel fully safe – or relieved.

Many are worried their now-accurate passports could be taken away at any time, and the policy being reinstated feels like another step toward the administration's attempt to publicly erase their existence, they say. Still, these Americans are not giving up.

The legal battle continues

The ACLU filed Orr v. Trump in Feb. 2025, alleging that the passport ban discriminates against the LGBTQ+ community and is unconstitutional by violating people's right to travel and privacy. Being forced to out themselves as transgender during a passport inspection could put someone at risk for harassment or discrimination, it said.

Aston Orr, one of the seven plaintiffs in the lawsuit, received his accurate passport after five months of waiting in June. He was once accused of using a fake ID after his old passport still listed his gender as female while his driver's license listed him as male.

"We didn't choose to be trans, you know, but we are choosing to stand up for our rights, to live honestly and safely – and having accurate identification is part of that," Orr said. "That is why this lawsuit matters."

On June 17, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts expanded a preliminary injunction that required the State Department to process all applications requesting an "X" gender marker or binary change. At that time, people who had received an incorrect passport could reapply free and receive an accurate one.

The State Department returned to issuing only passports as defined by Trump's executive order on Nov. 6, after the Supreme Court granted the administration's request to appeal the preliminary injunction, concluding that the ACLU was "unlikely to succeed," according to ACLU attorney Aditi Fruitwala.

"If the applicant’s biological sex is not sufficiently established, we will request additional information from him or her," a State Department spokesperson told USA TODAY. "Once we have the needed information, we will issue a new passport in the applicant’s biological sex at birth." 

Still, the lawsuit is far from over, with litigation in "a very early stage," Fruitwala said. The claims, including the right to travel and privacy, as well as the Equal Protection Act, have not yet been fully considered by the court. "We're forging ahead. We're considering this a detour and not the end of the road for us," she added.

As long as their passport is valid and unexpired, people are legally allowed to use it, despite the ban being back in effect, according to the State Department website. U.S. citizens cannot be denied reentry to the country.

'Take things a day at a time'

The passport ban continues to place a mental and emotional burden on the transgender, nonbinary and intersex communities. Without such a crucial identification document properly reflecting who they are, advocates say, they not only lose their ability to travel abroad but could have trouble securing housing or a job.

Transgender adults comprise less than 1% of the U.S. population but have faced repeated setbacks in dismantling their rights by the Trump administration, including the ousting of transgender military service members and cutting funding for hospitals to provide gender-affirming care to minors.

"I think where we are right now, just with the state of everything in the world surrounding the trans community and our rights, it is truly just having to take things a day at a time," said Orr, who moved from West Virginia, where he was born and raised, to Maryland, which he feels is a safer place as a transgender man. "There are some days when I'm having to break it down, taking things truly minute by minute. I think that's really what all of us in the trans community are going through right now."

Although Patrick is excited about his new chapter in life, he feels conflicted about his passport, knowing many people in his community are still left behind.

"I feel bad because I know that I'm one of the lucky few," he said. He's also concerned about losing the vital document and being unable to get another. "Why am I pursuing a job where I have to have one when they could easily just take it away, and then I'm back where I started, but jobless?"

Orr echoes the sentiment of many in his community, saying he won't give up the fight.

"I do truly believe that we are going to be on the right side of history here," he said. "We just have to keep pushing, and I hope that trans folks continue to just live their lives fully and authentically."