A judge has expanded a preliminary injunction on a move by President Donald Trump’s administration that would limit a person’s sex listed on their passport to align with their biological sex.
U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts Judge Julia Kobick expanded the preliminary injunction on Tuesday after she ruled in favor of six plaintiffs who identified as transgender or nonbinary in April.
The plaintiffs were challenging a Trump administration rule change that restricted passport sex to align with birth sex, overturning a State Department policy that allowed people to choose the sex displayed on their passport, including an “X” option for individuals who identify as intersex and non-binary.
In that April ruling, only the six plaintiffs were allowed to receive passports aligning with their gender identity. Tuesday’s ruling issued by Kobick expands that order to grant class certification, pausing enforcement of the rule change nationwide.
The Trump administration is likely to appeal the decision. In the interim, Kobick’s order prevents the State Department from enforcing the administration’s revised rules.
The U.S. has permitted individuals who identify as transgender and intersex to choose a different sex for their passport than their birth sex since 1992, pending submission of medical documentation, until the rules were changed in 2021 under President Joe Biden. The Biden administration allowed people to self-select their passport sex marker based on gender identity, while non-binary, intersex, and other individuals were allowed to select an “X” marker rather than “M” or “F.”
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