The day he was sworn in as the 47th president, Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” It plainly states, “my Administration will defend women’s rights and protect freedom of conscience by using clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.” He wasn’t joking.
In a TikTok video, transgender model and television star Hunter Schafer, a biological male, bemoaned the new reality. Schafer explains that his new passport, which he recently received, lists his sex as male. Schafer explains he wasn’t expecting to see “male” on the new passport.
“My initial reaction to this because our president is a lot of talk, was like, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it.’ Today, I saw it,” he said.
Schafer then goes on to say he didn’t make the video to “fearmonger, to create drama, or receive consolation” but to show it actually happened. And until he received the new document, he didn’t believe it would. Schafer insists a “letter on a passport” won’t change his status as a transgender individual. Ironically, mere desire to be the opposite sex doesn’t change Schafer’s biology at all.
Under the section “Sex Marker in Passports,” the State Department website states that “we will no longer issue U.S. passports or Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBAs) with an X marker. We will only issue passports with an M or F sex marker that match the customer’s biological sex at birth.”
In 2022, the Biden administration started using the “X” marker on passport applications to “accommodate intersex, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming individuals.” Trump’s executive order reversed that.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick blocked the administration’s policy with a preliminary injunction. This only applies to six individuals who sued. Those six are allowed to have their passports reflect their chosen gender identity. For now, the policy is not blocked nationally. That could change in the future, as Kobick said the policy is “likely unconstitutional.”
This return to normalcy comes as a real shock to people such as Hunter Schafer. This is because the last few years have been dominated by a president and administration that changed a long-standing and reasonable requirement in favor of appeasing a few. There is nothing discriminatory in declaring sex designation on passports should be either male or female. Those are the only biological options.
It does not matter whether or not an individual has a gender identity that doesn’t align with his or her biological form. Even with hormonal or surgical manipulation, biological truth remains unchanged. That former President Joe Biden and his administration willfully succumbed to cultural pressure and implemented changes is not proof they were right.
It’s not just the State Department returning to common sense. The Department of Health and Human Services issued a press release this week highlighting “serious concerns about medical interventions, such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries, that attempt to transition children and adolescents away from their sex.”
This highlights the serious nature of gender dysphoria and the push to transition minors, a growing problem that is often met with strong criticism. The very idea of pushing back against medical intervention for minors is labeled bigotry.
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The Trump administration’s focus on returning to sex norms through policy is a positive thing. The same goes for the review of treatment for gender dysphoria and recognizing that physically “transitioning” is more harmful than helpful to minors. The harm should be exposed, not encouraged. There is nothing within these policy standards or studies that labels transgender people as worthless.
Designating male or female on passports isn’t bigotry. That’s as basic as it gets. And it is a much-needed, factual clarification in the midst of very obvious societal madness.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a contributor to the Magnolia Tribune.