Judge blocks Trump administration policy mandating biological 'M' or 'F' passport sex markers

A federal judge in Boston has blocked the President Trump executive order limiting passport sex markers to “M” or “F.”

U.S. District Judge Julia E. Kobick’s ruling Tuesday extends a preliminary injunction from an April court order that shielded six people from the new gender policy to anyone updating or applying for passports.

Kobrick wrote the lawsuit can apply to “all people who currently want, or in the future will want, a U.S. passport issued with an “M” or “F” sex designation that is different from the sex assigned to that individual under the Passport Policy.”

It also applies to “all people who currently want, or in the future will want, a U.S. passport and wish to use an “X” sex designation,” wrote Kobrick.

Her original order ruled that the policy adopted by the State Department was likely unconstitutional and violated Fifth Amendment equal protection rights.

“The Executive Order and Passport Policy are based on irrational prejudice toward transgender Americans and therefore offend our nation’s constitutional commitment to equal protection for all Americans,” Kobick wrote.

The policy was adopted by the department earlier in the year to comply with Trump’s executive order calling government agencies “to recognize two sexes, male and female.”

Kobick wrote that six plaintiffs “demonstrated that they are likely to suffer irreparable harm if the Passport Policy is not enjoined.”

The State Department filed an appeal of the preliminary injunction last week.