U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has begun enforcing a new rule requiring airlines to ignore any “X” gender markers on passports and instead enter either “M” or “F” for all passengers.
Announced in a July 7 bulletin, CBP said the rule stems from an earlier executive order by former President Donald Trump aimed at eliminating recognition of transgender identities. The directive took effect on July 14, with airlines given 90 days to comply before full enforcement.
Now in effect, the rule has sparked widespread concern over how it will be implemented in practice.
“It’s a little bit too soon to say how this is going to practically work out,” said Andy Izenson, senior legal director of the Chosen Family Law Center.
The guidance appears to allow airlines carrying passengers with nonbinary gender markers on their passports to select either “male” or “female” for them in advance passenger information forms, without penalty. The policy has been criticized as a needlessly invasive and humiliating process.
“[T]hat’s gonna hurt people in their souls to have to do when they already had to fight to get the X marker,” wrote one Bluesky user in response.
The Canadian government has also warned citizens with an “X” gender marker on their passports about potential travel complications.
“While the Government of Canada issues passports with an ‘X’ gender identifier, it cannot guarantee your entry or transit through other countries,” the Department of Global Affairs noted in a travel advisory on its United States travel advice page. “You might face entry restrictions in countries that do not recognize the ‘X’ gender identifier.”
Passports bearing “X” markers remain valid for travel within the United States under a June ruling by a federal district court in Massachusetts. The decision came in response to the Trump administration’s attempt to ban such passports under Executive Order 14168.
Although the courts blocked a full ban on third-gender markers, the Trump administration has used the new CBP rule to further complicate the plight of transgender and non-binary Americans.
“I would suggest the intent is to ensure that any individual person who’s acting under color of law or as an agent of the state has as much leeway to act out their personal bigotry as they want, without any concern about consequences,” Izenson told The Guardian.
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently weighing whether to uphold the Massachusetts federal court’s ruling.
A majority of the Supreme Court appeared poised to overturn Colorado's ban on licensed counselors attempting to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of minors, after 90 minutes of oral arguments on October 7. The decision could upend similar conversion therapy bans in 23 states and the District of Columbia.
Conversion therapy attempts to change a person's same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria by teaching patients to suppress their impulses or modify behavior to fit traditional notions of gender and sexuality. The practice is often wrongly described as "curing" a person of same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria -- when even many practitioners admit they cannot eliminate such feelings, only offer ways to manage or resist them.
Gay adult film star Justin Heath Smith, better known by his alias Austin Wolf, has been sentenced to 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.
The sentencing follows what prosecutors described as a "pattern of activity involving prohibited sexual conduct" that included seeking out sexual liaisons with minors and exchanging hundreds of child sexual abuse videos.
Wolf was arrested in 2024 on suspicion of using an anonymous Telegram account to exchange hundreds of videos containing child pornography with another individual whose phone was later seized and searched by the FBI.
Capital Pride Alliance Board President Ashley Smith has stepped down, effective October 18.
Smith was elected board president in 2018, succeeding longtime leader Bernie Delia, who passed away in 2024.
In a brief emailed statement to Metro Weekly, Capital Pride Alliance confirmed Smith’s resignation, saying the organization was recently "made aware of a claim" regarding Smith but offered no details about the nature of the claim or the circumstances surrounding his departure.
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