{"id":108654,"date":"2025-01-24T18:03:44","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T18:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/"},"modified":"2025-01-24T18:03:44","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T18:03:44","slug":"state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/","title":{"rendered":"State Department halts ‘X’ passport gender marker applications"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Smith Collection\/Gado\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio has directed the State Department to freeze applications in the passport pipeline with \u201cX\u201d selected as the gender identifier, according to internal communication reviewed by ABC News.<\/p>\n

The move follows President Donald Trump’s\u00a0executive order<\/a>\u00a0declaring that the U.S. government would only recognize a person’s sex assigned at birth, limit the definition of a “male” or “female” to their reproductive cells and potentially withhold federal funding from programs that acknowledge transgender people or “gender ideology.”<\/p>\n

The Biden administration introduced an option to select \u201cX\u201d instead of male or female on passport applications in 2022. The rule announced by then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken marked the Transgender Day of Visibility and was designed to accommodate intersex, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming individuals.<\/p>\n

Intersex people are those with variations in their sex traits such as genitals, chromosomes, hormones or reproductive organs, and differ from expectations of male and female anatomy.<\/p>\n

Passports already issued with \u201cX\u201d gender identifiers will still be considered valid, according to the new policy.<\/p>\n

As of Thursday, the online application tool still allows applicants to select \u201cX\u201d for their gender or say they wish to change their gender marker, causing confusion within the department\u2019s passport processing operations.<\/p>\n

Applicants who call into the State Department\u2019s National Passport Information Center with questions are being told to wait for new guidance before applying if they can, which the center says will be made available \u201cin the coming days.\u201d Those with questions about existing applications are also being told to wait for the same guidance.<\/p>\n

Civil liberties groups\u00a0have criticized<\/a>\u00a0the executive order’s limitations on sex and gender identification. Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ advocacy and legal organization, is preparing potential legal action against the executive order so identification documents can “accurately identify” intersex and nonbinary people.<\/p>\n

The State Department doesn\u2019t publish data on how many applicants have selected \u201cX\u201d since it was introduced, but UCLA\u2019s Williams Institute estimated at the time that 16,700 people might apply for passports with the \u201cX\u201d identifier each year.<\/p>\n

The State Department declined to comment on the matter, saying it \u201cdoes not comment on leaked internal documents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Smith Collection\/Gado\/Getty Images (WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio has directed the State Department to freeze applications in the passport pipeline with \u201cX\u201d selected as the gender identifier, according to internal communication reviewed by ABC News. The move follows President Donald Trump’s\u00a0executive order\u00a0declaring that the U.S. government would onlyRead More →<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,31,2],"tags":[273,271,276,274,270,123,275,133,124,272,102,103],"yoast_head":"\nState Department halts 'X' passport gender marker applications - FM News Talk 92.7 \/ 1450AM KOBE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"TALK, DONE RIGHT\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"State Department halts 'X' passport gender marker applications - FM News Talk 92.7 \/ 1450AM KOBE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"TALK, DONE RIGHT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FM News Talk 92.7 \/ 1450AM KOBE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NewsTalkLC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-24T18:03:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/syndication.abcaudio.com\/files\/2025-01-24\/G_passport_012425.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ABC News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newstalklc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newstalklc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ABC News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ABC News\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#\/schema\/person\/bfa4e6a14d1fcf4a939c3260298ef5b7\"},\"headline\":\"State Department halts ‘X’ passport gender marker applications\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-24T18:03:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-24T18:03:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/\"},\"wordCount\":376,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"92.7 FM\",\"AM 1450\",\"CONVERVATIVE TALK\",\"DONE RIGHT\",\"KOBE\",\"Las Cruces\",\"LAS CRUCES CONSERVATIVE TALK RADIO\",\"las cruces talk radio\",\"New Mexico\",\"NEWS TALK\",\"talk\",\"talk radio\"],\"articleSection\":[\"All News\",\"National News\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/\",\"name\":\"State Department halts 'X' passport gender marker applications - FM News Talk 92.7 \/ 1450AM KOBE\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-24T18:03:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-24T18:03:44+00:00\",\"description\":\"TALK, DONE RIGHT\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"State Department halts ‘X’ passport gender marker applications\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/\",\"name\":\"FM News Talk 92.7 \/ 1450AM KOBE\",\"description\":\"Talk Done Right\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#organization\",\"name\":\"News Talk 92.7 and AM 1450 KOBE\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/12\/official-news-talk-square-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/12\/official-news-talk-square-2.png\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":450,\"caption\":\"News Talk 92.7 and AM 1450 KOBE\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NewsTalkLC\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/newstalklc\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCcv85Bxj9WRRnL0O3xii6IQ\/videos\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#\/schema\/person\/bfa4e6a14d1fcf4a939c3260298ef5b7\",\"name\":\"ABC News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fba9c0649b69c3d5b53142437429a66?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fba9c0649b69c3d5b53142437429a66?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ABC News\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/author\/abcnews\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"State Department halts 'X' passport gender marker applications - FM News Talk 92.7 \/ 1450AM KOBE","description":"TALK, DONE RIGHT","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"State Department halts 'X' passport gender marker applications - FM News Talk 92.7 \/ 1450AM KOBE","og_description":"TALK, DONE RIGHT","og_url":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/","og_site_name":"FM News Talk 92.7 \/ 1450AM KOBE","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NewsTalkLC","article_published_time":"2025-01-24T18:03:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/syndication.abcaudio.com\/files\/2025-01-24\/G_passport_012425.jpg"}],"author":"ABC News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@newstalklc","twitter_site":"@newstalklc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ABC News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/"},"author":{"name":"ABC News","@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#\/schema\/person\/bfa4e6a14d1fcf4a939c3260298ef5b7"},"headline":"State Department halts ‘X’ passport gender marker applications","datePublished":"2025-01-24T18:03:44+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-24T18:03:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/"},"wordCount":376,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#organization"},"keywords":["92.7 FM","AM 1450","CONVERVATIVE TALK","DONE RIGHT","KOBE","Las Cruces","LAS CRUCES CONSERVATIVE TALK RADIO","las cruces talk radio","New Mexico","NEWS TALK","talk","talk radio"],"articleSection":["All News","National News","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/","url":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/","name":"State Department halts 'X' passport gender marker applications - FM News Talk 92.7 \/ 1450AM KOBE","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-01-24T18:03:44+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-24T18:03:44+00:00","description":"TALK, DONE RIGHT","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/state-department-halts-x-passport-gender-marker-applications\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"State Department halts ‘X’ passport gender marker applications"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/","name":"FM News Talk 92.7 \/ 1450AM KOBE","description":"Talk Done Right","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#organization","name":"News Talk 92.7 and AM 1450 KOBE","url":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/12\/official-news-talk-square-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/12\/official-news-talk-square-2.png","width":1024,"height":450,"caption":"News Talk 92.7 and AM 1450 KOBE"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NewsTalkLC","https:\/\/twitter.com\/newstalklc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCcv85Bxj9WRRnL0O3xii6IQ\/videos"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#\/schema\/person\/bfa4e6a14d1fcf4a939c3260298ef5b7","name":"ABC News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fba9c0649b69c3d5b53142437429a66?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fba9c0649b69c3d5b53142437429a66?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ABC News"},"url":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/author\/abcnews\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108654"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}