Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas will reportedly introduce legislation to ensure that the U.S. government cannot issue passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad that include a nonspecific “X” gender maker.
The Daily Caller reported that Roy plans to introduce the legislation — the outlet posted a copy of the bill, which would stop the State Department from carrying out a plan to allow people to select the alternative gender marker.
“There are only two sexes — male and female — and that’s what official government documents should reflect. Passports exist to serve our national security by verifying the identity of those who exit and reenter our country; they do not exist to undermine reality,” Roy told the outlet. “Radical gender ideology has no place in our government — whether in our education system or at the passport office. That’s why I introduced the Passport Sanity Act to put an end this madness,” he noted.
In a press statement issued last year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the State Department planned to provide people with an alternative gender marker option. “The Department has begun moving towards adding a gender marker for non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming persons applying for a passport or CRBA,” the statement noted.
Later in 2021, the State Department announced that it had issued the first passport with the “X” marker.
“We anticipate the process of updating our passport forms will be completed in early 2022. After this process is completed, passport applications will offer the X gender marker,” a State Department webpage says.
The legislation likely has no chance of becoming law as long as Democrats control Congress and the White House.
It has several co-sponsors, according to the Daily Caller: Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, Rep. Bob Good of Virginia, Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Rep. Ted Budd of North Carolina, and Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina.