Transgender Coloradans scrambling over documents after Trump executive order

DENVER — As a transgender man who takes testosterone and has a full beard and a deep voice, Jacob knows an ID that matches his male presentation is crucial, both for his peace of mind and for his safety.

Jacob, a 30-year-old freelance writer in Denver, began navigating the complex process of changing his gender marker on his IDs from female to male in November, shortly after the election of Donald Trump, and has successfully updated both his Social Security card and driver’s license. 

Jacob’s last name does not appear in this story to protect his privacy.

But an executive order President Donald Trump signed Monday mandates the federal government to recognize only two genders: male and female. It defines “sex” as a person’s reproductive cells at conception, requires federal agencies to cease diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and removes anti-discrimination protections for transgender people in workplaces and schools.

As a result, the order bans people from seeking a gender-neutral “X” on federal identification documents. It also prohibits changing one’s gender marker on federal documents.

“It feels like this is an effort to erase us from society,” Jacob said.

The State Department has also stopped processing passport applications for gender marker changes, leaving Jacob uncertain about whether he can obtain a passport reflecting his updated gender marker. Despite his other documents already reflecting his male identity, he said he has yet to receive clear guidance on the issue.

“My plans are to be loud and fight back,” Jacob said. “Trans people aren’t going anywhere.”

As the number of anti-transgender hate crimes rise and the Trump administration enacts policy targeting the community, Jacob worries the “F” on his passport could present a threat to his safety.

“If I decide I want to travel abroad and I have an ‘F’ on my passport but an ‘M’ on my driver’s license, that could cause huge issues for me,” Jacob said. 

Because of the Real ID Law, passed by the federal government in 2005, a person’s state and federal documents must align with regards to name and gender. 

The White House and State Department have not released guidance for individuals who’ve changed their gender on state documents and now cannot do so on federal documents.

The Colorado Name Change Project provides pro-bono services to people looking to change their name and gender marker. Individuals going through the process are required to pay $86 for fingerprints with the CBI and FBI, and an $88 court processing fee. 

People appearing in front of a judge to change their name and gender marker do not need to have a lawyer present.

“The red flags that go off in my mind are ‘what happens to people in the midst of this process?’ and what happens to trans and nonbinary people in the workplace?’” said Ryann Peyton, a civil rights attorney and board member at One Colorado, an LGBTQ+ advocacy nonprofit.

“Usually we look to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to protect the marginalized, and now it’s being used to hurt the marginalized,” Peyton added.

Colorado has anti-discrimination laws that protect transgender people in their housing and workplaces. The state also requires insurance companies it regulates to cover gender-affirming care.

Z Williams, an attorney with Bread and Roses Legal Services, said Trump’s executive order will almost certainly end up at the United States Supreme Court, where its legality will ultimately be decided. 

In the meantime, Williams encouraged transgender people to continue pursuing medical care and living as their true selves.

“I keep telling people to be responsive and not reactive,” Williams said. “We need to view these executive orders almost like press releases until we see if or how they’re actually implemented.”

Presidential executive orders vary in their power and scope. Andrew Rudalevige, a professor of government at Bowdoin College, told PBS News’ Amna Nawaz that some of Trump’s executive orders could have an immediate impact, but others are “plans to make plans.”

Williams also encouraged people interested in changing their name and gender identification to do so on state documents. Having the state judge’s permission could still be valuable if the executive order is either overturned by the Supreme Court or undone by a future president, Williams said.

“Trump doesn’t operate within how law works, he operates in how he can fan the flames of anti-trans sentiment to keep building his base,” they said. 

Williams said LGBTQ+ people have always earned their liberation by fighting against oppression. They pointed to the Stonewall Riots and ACT UP — a grassroots movement to end the AIDS crisis — as examples of the community defying government and taking matters into its own hands.

“That defiance of ‘go ahead and pull whatever you want, we’re going to do what we want to do regardless,” Williams said. “We have to find ways to muster that kind of energy and vibrancy in our struggle right now.”

Zack felt he could finally exhale when a judge granted his order to change his legal name and gender marker to male in 2021.

“Before that, it was always just a stressful thing to go into anywhere where I was going to be required to show ID and I have to show an ID that doesn’t align with the person standing in front of the cashier,” said Zack, whose name does not appear in this story to protect his privacy.

After serving jail time for a 2017 felony, Zack, 33, went back to school and became a software engineer. Now, he lives as a man and chooses when to identify himself as transgender. He works as a software engineer and lives in Thornton.

Zack's felony conviction made the process of legally changing his name and gender identification significantly more challenging. His conviction added several months to the process and required him to notify the county where he was convicted.

“People would look at me and say ‘that’s not you,’” Zack said. “And I’d respond with ‘do I have to show you my genitals to prove that it is?’”

Changing his identification helped Zack feel the person on his ID matched the person he was inside, but the change also alleviated safety concerns and protected his confidentiality as a transgender person.

“When you’re forcibly outed by the documents you have to carry around, it puts you in a situation where you have to consider where you can travel so you aren’t put in an unsafe situation against your will.”

Zack now chooses when he wants to be open about his identity. When starting a new job, for example, he assesses the safety of the culture before outing himself.

“It’s now one less thing that the world can other me about,” Zack said. “I have that sense of control where I don’t have to be seen as a trans person, I can just be another person.”

Liminal Berg moved from their home state of Oklahoma to Colorado because of  Colorado’s protections for transgender and nonbinary people. Berg is a nonbinary parent and worried about raising their child in whose Republican supermajority legislature has targeted gender-affirming care and transgender people."

“I felt like I had to fight so hard just to be recognized and safe in Oklahoma,” Berg said. “The whole point of moving here was to not have to worry as much and now I’m worrying again.”

After their child was born, Berg said they had an extensive uphill battle to be identified as “parent,” rather than “mother” or “father” on their child’s birth certificate. The process was undoubtedly worth it to match how they truly felt, Berg said.

Berg has an appointment with the DMV to change their driver’s license to an “X” gender marker in February, but is not sure if they’ll keep the appointment, knowing that having that mark on a federal document is no longer allowed and could make them a target of harassment or legal consequences down the road.

“I’m not that surprised that Trump made this ruling,” Berg said. “But that doesn't make it any easier.”

M.E. O’Connell, a trial attorney with LawForPeople, a civil rights law firm, described the federal government’s new policies targeting the LGBTQ+ community as cruel..

“This is an existential threat to the transgender community because it has so many practical applications, but there's also an underpinning of erasure,” O’Connell said. “It’s kind of the cruelest thing a government could do, to single out such a small group like this and make them the target of your hate.”

O’Connell is also advising transgender people to not panic. Executive orders, he said, are often temporary and he expects anti-Trump momentum to fuel political activism, as it did during the president’s first term.

“This is being taken very seriously,” O’Connell said. “Things are scary and bad, but they won’t always be.”