Your Papers Please.

Well the courts have ruled on our favor! Once again we can get our passports in our true gender.

Transgender people allowed to correct passports despite executive order

The Spokesman-Review

Aug. 4, 2025

Transgender and nonbinary people are now allowed to receive passports matching their gender identity after an executive order from President Donald Trump previously forced binary gender markers.

Earlier this year, a federal judge blocked an effort by the Trump administration to keep the order in place while a civil rights lawsuit progressed. As of July 11, transgender people have been able to sign attestations that they have been harmed by the executive order and receive corrected documents while the case plays out.

For Lily Beinn, a transgender woman from Spokane, having a passport that matches her gender identity means having the freedom of movement without fear.

“The government makes it very clear they don’t want me here. Why would I want to raise my kids here?” Beinn said. “At this point for me, I just need a passport to eventually immigrate to another country.”

A federal lawsuit challenging the executive order was filed Feb. 7 in reaction to an executive order signed by Trump on Jan. 20. The order required the federal government to recognize only two genders, male and female.

“These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,” the order stated.

My passport is expiring right about now but I am not going to get it renewed.

“They’re trying to erase us,” Courchaine said.

“They want to intimidate us,” Beinn added.

Despite the challenges, Courchaine and Beinn both agreed it was important they remain themselves.

“I’m definitely concerned, but I’m also emboldened more to be myself, because if we let these intimidation tactics work, there will be none of us. We’ll all go back into the closet, live miserable lives and have miserable families,” Courchaine said. “We’re in the age that we don’t have to do that anymore and we can choose our own best lives.”

The ACLU writes,

This includes those who, under the Trump administration’s policy, were previously sent a passport with a sex designation listing their sex assigned at birth after applying for a new, renewed, or replaced passport, and/or a changed name or gender marker.

Why am I not renewing my passport, because what will the next court rule? If I send it in and another court rules in favor of Trump and they have my passport, then what...

I'm keeping mine even though it will expire because you can always use it as proof of citizenship (Which is becoming more important now! Also some agencies, banks, or notaries may accept an expired passport as a secondary form of ID, especially if it expired recently.

So I'm not gambling with my passport... a bird in hand is worth two in the bush!