Recently, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in the Orr v. Trump case, which is the ACLU lawsuit brought against the State Department for issuing passports to transgender people with invalid gender markers representing their supposed “sex at birth” rather than their gender identity. Back in April, the judge issued a preliminary injunction in which the State Department would have to issue valid passports to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Now, the judge overseeing this case has upgraded it to a class action, which means the preliminary injunction now applies to trans people in general who were issued improper passports.
It is uncertain how long this injunction will last — it could overruled tomorrow or even a year from now — but it does provide trans people a window of opportunity to obtain proper documentation.
While this may seem like good news, unfortunately people are still reporting being denied accurate passports. This is due to a combination of bureaucratic factors, not to mention the actions of the Trump administration, which is known to disregard court orders and essentially make a mockery of our judicial system.
It is this aspect that I feel as though isn’t highlighted enough, but Renee Raketty, publisher of the Seattle Gay News, touches on just that in an Instagram video she shot outside the Seattle Passport Office.
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In the video, she explains that she along with a few other trans people walked away empty-handed and were denied valid passports. Raketty shares stories from other people, such as a trans high school student preparing to leave for South America to volunteer and help the less fortunate, only for the Trump administration to throw a wrench in said plans.
Another was left with the impossible choice of attending a family wedding overseas with incorrect documents, essentially outing them and placing themselves at risk, or staying home.
It really cannot be understated the damage this choice has caused. I believe the lawsuit shouldn’t stop at just passports but the emotional distress, financial damages, and any other harm this horrible four-month-long blockade on safe travel has inflicted to any and all trans and gender-nonconforming people.
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