Federal Appeals Court Rules ‘Pretend Categories’ for Trans Allowed on Passports

A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled against the Trump administration’s effort to restrict the issuance of passports to reflect only biological sex, upholding a lower court order that requires the State Department to allow transgender and nonbinary Americans to carry passports consistent with their gender identity.

We can’t have pretend categories on official documents. https://t.co/t9GxtJd57q

— Semperfi Virginia (@fi_virginia2) September 6, 2025

The three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Boston, declined to stay an injunction first issued in April and expanded in June.

That ruling had barred the State Department from enforcing President Donald Trump’s directive to eliminate gender “X” as a passport option and restrict sex markers to male or female.

The June expansion was issued by a judge appointed during the Biden-Harris administration.

🚨 JUST IN: A federal judge has BLOCKED Secretary of State Marco Rubio from requiring people to use their ACTUAL SEX on their passport

Our judicial system has become a TOTAL freaking joke.

This activist judge wants to force us to include gender “X” as a passport option, and… pic.twitter.com/v5WpfaNeoD

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) June 17, 2025

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The decision represents another in a series of court rulings that have challenged Trump’s executive orders since he returned to office in January.

The administration had asked the appellate court to lift the injunction while its legal arguments proceeded, but the panel rejected the request.

President Trump signed the executive order, titled Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, on January 20, his first day back in office.

The order sought to ensure that federal identification documents, including passports, reflected biological sex rather than self-identified gender.

In the text of the order, Trump wrote: “Across the country, ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex have increasingly used legal and other socially coercive means to permit men to self-identify as women and gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities designed for women, from women’s domestic abuse shelters to women’s workplace showers. This is wrong. Efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being. The erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system. Basing Federal policy on truth is critical to scientific inquiry, public safety, morale, and trust in government itself.”

EO:
‘Across the country, ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex have … used legal and other socially coercive means to permit men to self-identify as women and gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities designed for women’.https://t.co/Gbtis9scrC

— Cathy Devine (@cathydevine56) January 21, 2025

The appeals court, however, said the administration did not sufficiently justify why the policy was necessary or how it could withstand constitutional challenges.

In its order, the panel wrote that the Trump administration failed to show that blocking the policy would “irreparably injure” the government.

The judges also said officials had not “engaged meaningfully” with the district court’s earlier conclusion that the passport directive was rooted in what it called “unconstitutional animus toward transgender Americans.”

The administration has argued that accurate documentation of biological sex is critical to law enforcement, national security, and consistency in federal records.

Supporters of the executive order have pointed to longstanding practices across federal agencies of recording sex as a biological characteristic rather than a self-declared identity.

This needs to move up to the Supreme Court. Because there are only two sexes. M or F. Anything else would constitute lying on a government document/ID.

— Patriot Girl 🇺🇸♥️🇺🇸🤍🇺🇸💙 (@Christii3131) September 5, 2025

The lawsuit challenging the policy was brought by transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs, supported by advocacy groups, who argued that restricting passport options violated their constitutional rights and subjected them to discrimination.

The lower court’s injunction effectively preserved the ability of applicants to select gender identity markers, including “X,” on their passports.

Thursday’s ruling ensures that the injunction will remain in place as the case proceeds through the appeals process.

The administration has not indicated whether it will seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The decision underscores the legal battles President Trump’s administration has faced in its efforts to reverse policies on gender and identity implemented under the Biden-Harris administration.

With this ruling, federal courts have once again intervened to prevent enforcement of executive actions aimed at restoring biological definitions in federal documents.