Feature image from Hunter Schafer’s TikTok about her passport change.
Ever since Trump’s inauguration, many trans people have been on edge. But some of us, myself included, have questioned the validity of his claims and the seriousness of his actions. From rolling back DEI programs to declaring there are only two genders dictated by assigned sex at birth, Trump has been wildin’ out. He has given his base plenty to celebrate by signing executive orders that seem to deliver on his campaign promises while not changing any actual laws.
When Trump’s executive order banning gender marker changes on passports began, I thought it would at least take a minute before things really got hectic. I thought wrong! All over social media, I have seen trans people talking about how updating their gender markers on necessary documents is virtually null and void. There are a few ways to possibly circumvent this, but for passports, there seems to be no way around it.
Model, actress, and artist Hunter Schafer shared an eight-minute video on TikTok about her passport experience. The Bureau for Consular Affairs incorrectly changed her gender marker from F for female to M for male. Schafer is one of the most famous trans people in the world. As she states in the video, “it doesn’t matter how white, privileged, or pretty someone is” this passport ban impacts all of us.
Like me, Schafer at first thought this ban was a bunch of hullabaloo. “My initial reaction to this, because our president is a lot of talk, was like ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ …and today I saw it on my new passport,” Schafer said.
Hunter Schafer changed her passport and her other legal documents — except notably her birth certificate — to reflect her true gender in her teens. Schafer’s previous passport was stolen while filming in Barcelona, and if it were not for this random theft, she would still have an accurate passport. This is quite alarming. For every trans person with a passport reflecting their correct gender, that document has now become irreplaceable.
As Schafer explains in the video, this isn’t just an issue of trans people being validated by the federal government. Having an inaccurate gender marker means having to out ourselves to border patrol agents. Whether entering other places that are hostile to trans people or returning to the U.S. with agents empowered by Trump’s bigotry, this can put us at risk. At best, it’s a violation of our privacy and makes traveling more uncomfortable. At worst, it will make us physically unsafe.
While these recent accounts have proven that Trump’s executive orders have been taken as law, I still think it’s important to remember the government does not define who we are. For years, the vast majority of us did not have any sort of access to document changes, but we still existed and resisted the forces that be.
As Schafer says in her video, “Trans people are beautiful. We are never going to stop existing. I’m never gonna stop being trans. A letter on a passport can’t change that.”
It’s been since 2016 with this guy. Time to start believing he’s gonna do what he says. We all got lucky the 1st time around in that he didn’t have loyalists. Not the case this time. Thank SCOTUS, thank feckless Republicans, thank voters that didn’t care enough to make sure we didn’t end up in this situation. Whoever you want to thank for this mess, thank them, because now we’re all effed.