A new state department cable, meant to target transgender athletes, indicates a potential broader application to all transgender visas, which it states must contain "sex at birth."
there’s no reason to think they won’t eventually expand this kind of ban to American citizens upon returning to the US from foreign travel, right? effectively trapping citizens in the US, because to leave would mean not being allowed back…
If you’re an American citizen, you don’t need a Visa to return to the US. Yes, they will attack us in every way they can, but i don’t think you’ll run into this particular problem if you’re a US citizen returning from abroad. I’d be more worried about having an “invalid” passport confiscated
Do you have an updated passport? My person got her gender marker on her passport this past summer but her name hasn't been changed yet and thus, outs her.
I had my name and gender marker changed years ago, long before this insanity struck the nation. But my passport does expire in 2027 and I'm not sure what's going to happen then.
^^^^ 100% agreed. Transgender, Intersex, Gender Non Confirming (GNC) and Fluid Identities should be worried cuz all it takes it's one jerk to say some BS even if some folks is able to hide under the rader or able to change their legal documents to give trouble which I'm extremely worried about.
I'm Intersex and Black, so I worry even more that BIPOC/POC Individuals will be clocked even further by Cis Hetro People's insistence that Gender Identity (or worse, they are saying "Bio Sex" BS which is disgusting terminology) should look like and push gender expectations and ideals further to where the law would not help us (due to the climate of the USA going downhill) or make a domino effect in actually creating worse conditions and environments for US citizens and visitors that are LGBTQIA+ to deal with
All of this is unsettling especially with how unpredictable this new presidential administration is doing and how so many organizations/hospitals/non profits and more are obeying in advance rather than trying our best with the court system even with a imbalance US Supreme Court judges that aren't very progressive either
Overall, it's something I'm worried about in the future for the US and hopefully we don't have copy cats in other US states or worse, international countries that want to do worse traveling in and out of the country with passport identification
May I respectfully request that to avoid causing people more anxiety than is actually necessary (for the moment), you consider adding something to your original post making clear that this does not affect citizens of the many countries from which it's unnecessary to apply for and obtain a visa in order to visit the USA for up to 90 days? Not everyone is aware that citizens of Canada and the 42 countries that are part of the Visa Waiver program (including all of the EU, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, etc.) don't need a visa to enter the USA.
It can affect them if their ability to use the visa waiver has been revoked. That applies to relatively few people who will know they're in this category.
So, to be clear, this does NOT apply to someone coming from a country in which a visa is not required for entry into the US? For instance, someone coming from western Europe under a western European passport would not need a visa, so they could have their nonbirth gender on their passport and be fine?
And also, are trans people actually banned, or does this simply force them to declare their birth sex?
Correct. On its face, this applies only to people who need to apply for and obtain a visa to enter the USA. It has no applicability whatsoever to citizens of the 42 countries -- including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the entire EU -- that are part of the visa waiver program, and don't need a visa to visit the USA for up to 90 days. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html. (Even Olympic athletes and other athletes who don't get paid for competing can apparently enter without a visa for up to 90 days. ) In any event, the process of applying for a visa when necessary obviously gives the government a chance to "transvestigate" people, that doesn't really present itself when someone is simply showing their passport at Customs. So if you are a citizen of one of those 42 countries, it isn't necessary to panic just yet.
PS: Canada is not part of the Visa Waiver Program, but Canadian citizens don't need visas in the first place to enter the USA for up to 90 days, so no "waiver" is necessary. Therefore, this has no effect on Canadian citizens.
Thanks for your posting. INA 212(a)(6)(C) applies to those who are subject to inspection at a US port of entry or those applying for a US visa so conceivable could apply to someone entering under the Visa Waiver Program as the ESTA application requests someone's sex. The Visa Waiver Program is administered by US Customs and Border Protection so the US Dept of State cable discussed here doesn't apply to VWP entry and, as far as I'm aware we're not yet aware that CBP has issued similar instructions to immigration officers at ports of entry who could also make a finding of inadmissibility due to misrepresentation of material facts when request a US entry, visa or entry although if a person entered under the VWP a finding of inadmissibility under 212a6C can be made if a person applies for a US visa at a US consular post at a later date. This definitely does NOT apply to US citizens who cannot be found ineligible for US entry.
Trans women have been playing womens sports for decades, and we don't pose a threat. Honestly we kinda suck. Of all the trans women who have competed in the US, there are only two who have set any records, one in a pool somewhere, and the other in a 200 meter dash in a regional qualifier. In simple terms, trans women are not a threat in womens sports, this is just another illegal executive order by an illegal president. None of us have to obey these orders any more than people had to obey the nazis.
As a BIPOC LGBTQIA+ Young Adult who's Black, I am visibly sick at the thought of Rubio banning all Transgender People from entering to the USA, it's very scary to say the least
I'm worried the Trump's admin will eventually void all legitimate US passports that had the sex marker changed. It seems inevitable, following the 'logic' in this visa policy, that they will target any document that had a sex marker changed. It would be a big step towards making it illegal for us to exist in public.
Due to this and all of the other anti-transgender executive orders that have been issued by the new administration, World Pride should immediately move the location of this year's celebration to a new location outside of the US. With this new State Department guidance, World Pride should not continue with plans to hold the celebration inside of U.S. borders.
I disagree, a powerful angry protest and celebration of Pride is needed within the US more than ever. Celebrities who are denied entry are the media attention we need to this.
I'd never heard of World Pride before! I'm inclined to agree with an alternative location but ... on the other hand Pride IS a protest and that's probably a place that absolutely does need a protest.
What we absolutely SHOULD do this year is boycott any company that tries any pride-washing crap this year.
Having a hard time hitting the like button on news like this 😢 anyone else thinking the vibe at World Pride in DC may be more protest than celebration? Also, look at that picture of Marco Rubio. That is a person without a soul.
I’m already seeing this idea put forward seriously. There is a concern that men attracted to a woman who they do not know is transgender may accidentally be turned gay! Yes, these people are fools, yet elected to positions with some power over the masses.
What are the implications for transgender US citizens seeking to return home after a visit abroad? Is the assumption here that they would be denied entry?
How would they know? That's a rhetorical question but I suppose the same question needs to be asked in a practical sense. My understanding (which could be wrong) is that passports only contain information about your current gender marker, they don't have historical records.
In theory it would be possible to extract such information from national databases - in the UK we have gender recognition certificates and I'm guessing there is therefore a database of people that have applied for these and that could be queried. (It obviously shouldn't be). All of that is going to take *ALOT* of work.
And all of that ignores the extremely large, rainbow-coloured, elephant in the room: there is ONLY sex ASSIGNED at birth for the vast majority of people. Some intersex individuals *may* have some medical records which indicate their actual chromosomal sex at birth if tested, but in those cases the assigned sex (phenotype?) may be ambiguous and certainly not binary. And of course trans people can also present with variations in chromosomes, and potentially other factors that we can't detect yet.
In short, this, like all the anti-trans garbage, is illogical nonsense and is akin to the bigots sticking their heads in the proverbial sand and denying actual evidence and reality.
In terms of what it claims to set out to protect against I don't know why they are bothering, sports are generally run for cishet white men anyway and the only women that are going to be allowed in soon will be those that are white and at least straight-looking.
This will undoubtedly hurt many cis people, especially woman. Woman with PCOS and black woman are typically misgendered for looking "too manly". And I bet you to "prove" it, they'll be asked to expose themselves. It's just the trans bathroom ban on a national level. Refusing access to those who don't confirm enough regardless of if they're actually trans or not.
Actually not a rhetorical question. A U.S. consular officer would have historical records if the person had previously applied for a U.S. visa, and if the two applications had different sex indicators, that would be reason enough to ask for more documentation beyond the passport, i.e. a birth certificate. That also could happen to someone who is a figure sufficiently in the public eye for their gender identity and its relationship to their birth records to be a matter of common knowledge. The leaked memo (https://bsky.app/profile/esqueer.net/post/3lizoywhvrs2u) gives some other examples.
Not saying it’s logical in any objective sense, but that’s the way visa applications work: Consular officers are given a narrow set of rules to apply strictly. It’s up to the applicant to show that they are eligible for the visa.
We desperately need a court ruling in our favor on this. The administration apparently will not stop until they have destroyed us completely. Where does the ACLU lawsuit on passport markets stand right now? We desperately need this to go in our favor.
This is getting ridiculous and dangerous. The worst part is when all trans people are ban from leaving for any reason. Or our citizen ship being taken away as they did 1933. Stay safe and stay hopeful🌸
Regarding the link to the story about Hunter Schafer, my daughter just experienced this. We applied for her passport after getting a court order changing her name and gender. They did issue the passport with her new name, but they changed her gender to M. We were worried that they would indefinitely hold the application, so at least we got the document, but she's disappointed she may have to explain her identity to potentially antagonistic border agents when traveling.
Better that she has a passport! Thank goodness she does!
If questioned about the gender thing, anyone who "passes" really well could simply say, "Yeah, this stupid administration can't get ANYTHING right. The government is officially broken."
I don't actually recommend saying anything political to any border control cop (or any other kind of cop). Say as little as possible; never volunteer information or opinions that they could use against you.
They’re obsession with us is deeply creepy and just unnaturally weird. Like what’s next passports to include pictures of genitalia? State appointed genital inspectors at the border? Absolute freaks.
To answer some quick questions about my latest story:
- It does not apply to the Visa Waiver Program as far as I can see
- It does not impact American citizens
- The ban exclusively impacts transgender foreigners seeking visas in the United States
- It is far more extensive than reported elsewhere
there’s no reason to think they won’t eventually expand this kind of ban to American citizens upon returning to the US from foreign travel, right? effectively trapping citizens in the US, because to leave would mean not being allowed back…
If you’re an American citizen, you don’t need a Visa to return to the US. Yes, they will attack us in every way they can, but i don’t think you’ll run into this particular problem if you’re a US citizen returning from abroad. I’d be more worried about having an “invalid” passport confiscated
I just came back from Canada a few weeks ago with zero problems from CBP. My anxiety levels were off the fricking charts, however!
Do you have an updated passport? My person got her gender marker on her passport this past summer but her name hasn't been changed yet and thus, outs her.
I had my name and gender marker changed years ago, long before this insanity struck the nation. But my passport does expire in 2027 and I'm not sure what's going to happen then.
in the invalid passport case, wouldn’t you then be stuck in limbo at the border?
At this point, if I could leave I'd never want to return back...
Hopefully somewhere starts taking refugees. I'd go in a heart beat and burn my US passport.
This would also, potentially, apply to intersex people.
^^^^ 100% agreed. Transgender, Intersex, Gender Non Confirming (GNC) and Fluid Identities should be worried cuz all it takes it's one jerk to say some BS even if some folks is able to hide under the rader or able to change their legal documents to give trouble which I'm extremely worried about.
I'm Intersex and Black, so I worry even more that BIPOC/POC Individuals will be clocked even further by Cis Hetro People's insistence that Gender Identity (or worse, they are saying "Bio Sex" BS which is disgusting terminology) should look like and push gender expectations and ideals further to where the law would not help us (due to the climate of the USA going downhill) or make a domino effect in actually creating worse conditions and environments for US citizens and visitors that are LGBTQIA+ to deal with
All of this is unsettling especially with how unpredictable this new presidential administration is doing and how so many organizations/hospitals/non profits and more are obeying in advance rather than trying our best with the court system even with a imbalance US Supreme Court judges that aren't very progressive either
Overall, it's something I'm worried about in the future for the US and hopefully we don't have copy cats in other US states or worse, international countries that want to do worse traveling in and out of the country with passport identification
May I respectfully request that to avoid causing people more anxiety than is actually necessary (for the moment), you consider adding something to your original post making clear that this does not affect citizens of the many countries from which it's unnecessary to apply for and obtain a visa in order to visit the USA for up to 90 days? Not everyone is aware that citizens of Canada and the 42 countries that are part of the Visa Waiver program (including all of the EU, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, etc.) don't need a visa to enter the USA.
It can affect them if their ability to use the visa waiver has been revoked. That applies to relatively few people who will know they're in this category.
So, to be clear, this does NOT apply to someone coming from a country in which a visa is not required for entry into the US? For instance, someone coming from western Europe under a western European passport would not need a visa, so they could have their nonbirth gender on their passport and be fine?
And also, are trans people actually banned, or does this simply force them to declare their birth sex?
Correct. On its face, this applies only to people who need to apply for and obtain a visa to enter the USA. It has no applicability whatsoever to citizens of the 42 countries -- including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the entire EU -- that are part of the visa waiver program, and don't need a visa to visit the USA for up to 90 days. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html. (Even Olympic athletes and other athletes who don't get paid for competing can apparently enter without a visa for up to 90 days. ) In any event, the process of applying for a visa when necessary obviously gives the government a chance to "transvestigate" people, that doesn't really present itself when someone is simply showing their passport at Customs. So if you are a citizen of one of those 42 countries, it isn't necessary to panic just yet.
PS: Canada is not part of the Visa Waiver Program, but Canadian citizens don't need visas in the first place to enter the USA for up to 90 days, so no "waiver" is necessary. Therefore, this has no effect on Canadian citizens.
Thanks for offering clarity on this question!
Thanks for your posting. INA 212(a)(6)(C) applies to those who are subject to inspection at a US port of entry or those applying for a US visa so conceivable could apply to someone entering under the Visa Waiver Program as the ESTA application requests someone's sex. The Visa Waiver Program is administered by US Customs and Border Protection so the US Dept of State cable discussed here doesn't apply to VWP entry and, as far as I'm aware we're not yet aware that CBP has issued similar instructions to immigration officers at ports of entry who could also make a finding of inadmissibility due to misrepresentation of material facts when request a US entry, visa or entry although if a person entered under the VWP a finding of inadmissibility under 212a6C can be made if a person applies for a US visa at a US consular post at a later date. This definitely does NOT apply to US citizens who cannot be found ineligible for US entry.
"It... grants officials the authority to deny visas based on 'reasonable suspicion' of a person’s transgender identity."
Oh that's not gonna be problematic at ALL! Grrr
Trans women have been playing womens sports for decades, and we don't pose a threat. Honestly we kinda suck. Of all the trans women who have competed in the US, there are only two who have set any records, one in a pool somewhere, and the other in a 200 meter dash in a regional qualifier. In simple terms, trans women are not a threat in womens sports, this is just another illegal executive order by an illegal president. None of us have to obey these orders any more than people had to obey the nazis.
As a BIPOC LGBTQIA+ Young Adult who's Black, I am visibly sick at the thought of Rubio banning all Transgender People from entering to the USA, it's very scary to say the least
I'm worried the Trump's admin will eventually void all legitimate US passports that had the sex marker changed. It seems inevitable, following the 'logic' in this visa policy, that they will target any document that had a sex marker changed. It would be a big step towards making it illegal for us to exist in public.
Yeah, that's my fear. That's why I don't want to return to the US until I'm able to do so under a foreign passport. (That's in the works.)
I don’t know how anyone who works for this current bureaucracy can sleep at night.
In the picture, Rubio looks like a hollowed-out shell of his former self. You can read the guy's face like a book.
Due to this and all of the other anti-transgender executive orders that have been issued by the new administration, World Pride should immediately move the location of this year's celebration to a new location outside of the US. With this new State Department guidance, World Pride should not continue with plans to hold the celebration inside of U.S. borders.
I disagree, a powerful angry protest and celebration of Pride is needed within the US more than ever. Celebrities who are denied entry are the media attention we need to this.
I'd never heard of World Pride before! I'm inclined to agree with an alternative location but ... on the other hand Pride IS a protest and that's probably a place that absolutely does need a protest.
What we absolutely SHOULD do this year is boycott any company that tries any pride-washing crap this year.
Having a hard time hitting the like button on news like this 😢 anyone else thinking the vibe at World Pride in DC may be more protest than celebration? Also, look at that picture of Marco Rubio. That is a person without a soul.
Or a brain. Or a heart for that matter.
Should we start sewing pink triangles to our clothes now, or wait for the EO? /s
I’m already seeing this idea put forward seriously. There is a concern that men attracted to a woman who they do not know is transgender may accidentally be turned gay! Yes, these people are fools, yet elected to positions with some power over the masses.
Let's do it! I would also get a yellow triangle/Star of David under it...
What are the implications for transgender US citizens seeking to return home after a visit abroad? Is the assumption here that they would be denied entry?
None. This is for US visas.
Building on this - what about Canadians (where the visa situation is at the border and generally not a form?)
This does not affect VWP entry.
How would they know? That's a rhetorical question but I suppose the same question needs to be asked in a practical sense. My understanding (which could be wrong) is that passports only contain information about your current gender marker, they don't have historical records.
In theory it would be possible to extract such information from national databases - in the UK we have gender recognition certificates and I'm guessing there is therefore a database of people that have applied for these and that could be queried. (It obviously shouldn't be). All of that is going to take *ALOT* of work.
And all of that ignores the extremely large, rainbow-coloured, elephant in the room: there is ONLY sex ASSIGNED at birth for the vast majority of people. Some intersex individuals *may* have some medical records which indicate their actual chromosomal sex at birth if tested, but in those cases the assigned sex (phenotype?) may be ambiguous and certainly not binary. And of course trans people can also present with variations in chromosomes, and potentially other factors that we can't detect yet.
In short, this, like all the anti-trans garbage, is illogical nonsense and is akin to the bigots sticking their heads in the proverbial sand and denying actual evidence and reality.
In terms of what it claims to set out to protect against I don't know why they are bothering, sports are generally run for cishet white men anyway and the only women that are going to be allowed in soon will be those that are white and at least straight-looking.
This will undoubtedly hurt many cis people, especially woman. Woman with PCOS and black woman are typically misgendered for looking "too manly". And I bet you to "prove" it, they'll be asked to expose themselves. It's just the trans bathroom ban on a national level. Refusing access to those who don't confirm enough regardless of if they're actually trans or not.
Actually not a rhetorical question. A U.S. consular officer would have historical records if the person had previously applied for a U.S. visa, and if the two applications had different sex indicators, that would be reason enough to ask for more documentation beyond the passport, i.e. a birth certificate. That also could happen to someone who is a figure sufficiently in the public eye for their gender identity and its relationship to their birth records to be a matter of common knowledge. The leaked memo (https://bsky.app/profile/esqueer.net/post/3lizoywhvrs2u) gives some other examples.
Not saying it’s logical in any objective sense, but that’s the way visa applications work: Consular officers are given a narrow set of rules to apply strictly. It’s up to the applicant to show that they are eligible for the visa.
We desperately need a court ruling in our favor on this. The administration apparently will not stop until they have destroyed us completely. Where does the ACLU lawsuit on passport markets stand right now? We desperately need this to go in our favor.
That's funny, you think the courts can save us.
Courts have no power anymore.
Might makes right, govern yourself accordingly.
This is getting ridiculous and dangerous. The worst part is when all trans people are ban from leaving for any reason. Or our citizen ship being taken away as they did 1933. Stay safe and stay hopeful🌸
Regarding the link to the story about Hunter Schafer, my daughter just experienced this. We applied for her passport after getting a court order changing her name and gender. They did issue the passport with her new name, but they changed her gender to M. We were worried that they would indefinitely hold the application, so at least we got the document, but she's disappointed she may have to explain her identity to potentially antagonistic border agents when traveling.
Better that she has a passport! Thank goodness she does!
If questioned about the gender thing, anyone who "passes" really well could simply say, "Yeah, this stupid administration can't get ANYTHING right. The government is officially broken."
I don't actually recommend saying anything political to any border control cop (or any other kind of cop). Say as little as possible; never volunteer information or opinions that they could use against you.
They are obsessed with us. It's beyond creepy.
They’re obsession with us is deeply creepy and just unnaturally weird. Like what’s next passports to include pictures of genitalia? State appointed genital inspectors at the border? Absolute freaks.