1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

I am writing to speak out against Trump’s July 7, 2025 executive order, “Sex Codes ‘M’ or ‘F’ in Systems.” Tens of thousands of intersex, nonbinary, & transgender U.S. citizens request an “X” gender marker on their passport each year, following accepted international conventions. However, per this EO, as of October 12, Customs & Border Patrol (CPB) only accepts an “M” or “F” “sex code” in the Airline Passenger Information System (APIS) travel record, contravening these global standards. (APIS is the data system CPB agents use to check travelers going through customs. TSA also uses APIS at airport security checkpoints to check passengers’ tickets are valid.) Trump has barred any traveler from having an “X” gender designation on a ticket for international travel — even when “X” is on their passport. This EO affects ALL air travel passengers with a gender of “X” on their passports — including U.S. citizens. This EO is patently discriminatory and a gross violation of human rights, as it blocks ONLY INTERSEX, TRANS, & NONBINARY people from traveling freely and from being recognized as their self-identified gender. Per the EO, when air travelers holding “X” passports and having a matching “X” on their ticket arrive from abroad, CPB turns them away at U.S. Customs. CPB forces these passengers to go back & ask their airline to change their ticket’s sex code in APIS. Travelers arriving on an airline’s last flight of the day may be stranded, unable to proceed through U.S. Customs until the following day. This EO will create massive issues for thousands and thousands of travelers: confusion, distress, conflicts with CPB and TSA agents and airline staff, wasted time, and missed flights — and most of all, humiliation, simply because they are the “wrong” gender in the eyes of our government. As other travelers are stuck standing in line behind these targeted citizens and thereby also delayed, another consequence of this EO (likely intended!) is to inflame social animosity against intersex & LGBTQ+ folks — most especially transgender people. Because of this EO, countless intersex, nonbinary, & transgender U.S. citizens and foreign visitors are now being treated as second-class citizens because of an innate identity trait. This is the height of discrimination. This EO adds insult to injury, since following Orr v. Trump, the State Department now requires transgender citizens to submit an attestation in order for their passport to show a gender that differs from their original birth certificate. Many transgender people are scared this attestation will put them on a list to be targeted for future discrimination, or worse — detention, imprisonment…even torture, eventually, if the direction of the current administration continues to go unchecked. I urge you: speak out against this EO and invalidate it! Fiercely defend the rights & dignity of gender minorities, and protect them from this EO & other efforts at dehumanization! Thank you.