BOSTON – In a significant legal development on June 17, 2025, a federal judge expanded a preliminary injunction in the case of Orr v. Trump. This ruling directly challenges the Trump administration’s controversial policy that mandated U.S. passports reflect only the sex designation assigned at birth. The court's decision pauses the enforcement of this policy for all transgender, nonbinary, and intersex passport holders, ensuring their right to obtain passports that align with their gender identity.
The legal battle began when the court initially granted a preliminary injunction in April 2025. This injunction allowed six transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs to secure passports with sex designations that correspond to their gender identity or an “X” designation. Following this, attorneys representing the plaintiffs filed motions for class certification and sought to expand the injunction to protect all individuals affected by the policy, both currently and in the future. Today’s ruling signifies that anyone applying to:
Obtain a new passport Change the sex designation or update their name on an existing passport Replace a lost, stolen, or damaged passport Renew their passport within one year of its expirationwill now have access to a passport that respects their gender identity or features an “X” designation. This also applies to individuals who were previously issued passports reflecting their sex assigned at birth due to this policy.
“This decision is a critical victory against discrimination and for equal justice under the law,” stated Li Nowlin-Sohl, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “It represents a historic win in the fight against the administration's attempts to marginalize transgender individuals. The State Department’s policy serves as an unjust barrier, denying dignity to transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans. We urge all affected class members to utilize this injunctive relief, and we are committed to permanently blocking this discriminatory policy.”
Jessie Rossman, Legal Director at the ACLU of Massachusetts, added, “This ruling highlights the immediate and profound negative impact the Trump administration's passport policy has on individuals trying to travel for work, education, and family matters. The policy undermines fundamental rights to privacy and the ability of all people to live safely and with dignity. We will continue our fight to abolish this unlawful policy.”
On his first day in office in January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order that aimed to discriminate against transgender individuals across federal programs. This directive instructed the Departments of State and Homeland Security to ensure that government-issued identification documents, including passports, reflect a person's sex “at conception.” Within 48 hours, the State Department halted processing of certain passport applications from transgender, intersex, and nonbinary individuals, returning some with passports incorrectly labeled with their assigned sex at birth.
The ACLU, alongside Advocates for Transgender Equality, collected over 214,000 public comments opposing the State Department’s new policy. In February 2025, the Orr v. Trump lawsuit was filed by the ACLU, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and Covington & Burling LLP on behalf of seven individuals who could not obtain passports matching their identities due to the newly implemented policy. The lawsuit was filed in the federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts and later amended to include five additional plaintiffs, seeking to represent a broader class of affected individuals.
As the case continues, all twelve individual plaintiffs have been appointed as class representatives. The Orr v. Trump case is emblematic of the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ rights, particularly regarding the rights of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex individuals to have identification that accurately reflects their identities. The ACLU has vowed to continue its legal efforts to challenge the Trump administration's discriminatory policies and advocate for the rights of all individuals.
For more information about the issues surrounding this case, including rights related to transgender and gender-nonconforming youth, please explore the topics of transgender rights, LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections, and advocacy for LGBTQ youth.
