Airlines now have to guess the gender of passengers when traveling to the United States. Passports may be issued by the federal government with X for gender, but the U.S. will stop accepting X as a gender for passengers traveling here on Sunday, October 12, 2025. That follows a 90-day transition period for airlines that began on July 15.
This is the result of President Trump’s first day in office Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
The Advance Passenger Information System which is used for information on all travelers entering or departing the United States will start rejecting anything other than M and F for gender, and airline agents are supposed to enter M or F regardless of what a passenger’s passport says.
- Airlines and vessel operators are required by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to collect and transmit passenger data before arrival and departure.
- The data set includes full name, date of birth, gender, citizenship, passport or travel document details, and flight/voyage information.
- Only M and F will be considered valid genders, even though the U.S. has issued documents with other than M and F.
By the way, what the U.S. is doing on gender mirrors the policy of the U.A.E..
In contrast, about four years ago, the State Department stopped requiring medical documentation to change the gender on a passport and introduced a new gender marker to “for non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming persons.” The U.S. government issued passports with “X” instead of “M” and “F”. For some official purposes “U” (undisclosed) has also been used for gender.
This has been an international standard for the airline industry since the first Trump administration. Here’s the AACoRN display for American Airlines AAdvantage accounts gender codes stored in Ventana:
Now, though, we’re about to enter a bizarre time where government-issued documents contain information that will be rejected by the government, and airline employees are supposed to guess a passenger’s gender in that case.
(HT: Michael)
ALL THIS SO WE MIGHT FORGET THAT SERIAL ADULTERER TRUMP IS NAMED NUMEROUS TIMES IN EPSTEIN’S FILES? I AM NOT DISTRACTED BY HIS CLUMSY SLEIGHT-OF-HAND, ARE YOU?
It sounds like good practice for when they have to start guessing passengers weights. Lol.
Does this really matter? All the lavatories are uni-sex…
Remember, everyone, it is long established, settled science that gender is not binary.
Is this correct ? My understanding was that after the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts’ ruling in June 2025 in Orr v. Trump, the EO was stayed indefinitely. Refer to US Department of State web page https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/passport-help/sex-marker.html
I can’t believe anyone can read the name of that executive order and not laugh.
More hate from the Trump administration. Seems like useless information to collect anyway. A picture, fingerprints, etc is far more valuable for identification purposes.
@Gary Shi Bendan — @Un, I know it’s you. Anytime I see Mandarin on here… And, side note, I wouldn’t have gone with the IQ joke over at DoC on that Cava post. A bit too much, buddy.
@1990 – you do not see Mandarin on here, because Mandarin is spoken, not written. The IQ thing can be interpreted many ways. Combined, the two authors of DoC are off-the-charts smart. Or one author is incredibly smart and the other is incredibly dumb. Or they are both dumb.
This will be a huge cluster**** for the airlines check-in staff and obviously for anyone with an X marker in their passport. Staff are going to have to go against all their previous training and enter something in conflict with what’s on the passport. It will not go well.
@Gary Shi Bendan — I doubt they are gonna take it that way, but, good luck!
It’s almost as if Republicans have something against the transgender community. Like they used to (still do) have issues with brown people, women in the military, the gays, Muslims, mixed race weddings, women who want agency over their own bodies, people who live in cities…
You have to guess the gender? Reminds me of Pat from Saturday Night Live:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_(Saturday_Night_Live)
Wait until they ask the airlines to identify or guess your ideology…
@TexasTJ – you can have the passport! But APIS won’t accept X/U, per this memo that postdates the ruling
@Paul — That’s probably coming next, if we allow it. (And, to those that think that’s okay, because your ‘team’ is in charge, for now, do understand, you should not ‘want’ this, because, when, eventually, the other ‘team’ is in-charge, you’ll want them to respect rule of law, not a one-party system that favors in-groups, and punishes out-groups.)
@Parker — I realize what you said above was partially in-jest, but likely with real pain behind it. I feel it, too. (Ignore the trolls; on here, they’re fairly harmless; like, it’s okay to ‘feel’ things.) Even with my vocal opinions on this and other topics, believe it or not, I still maintain ties with family and friends who identify as ‘Republican’ to varying degrees (some are RINOs, others are Old School, and a few are supporters of #47, but not extremists). I’m sure many of us do.
Nearly all of them are mostly rational, decent, hard-working, fun-loving, and somewhat compassionate people. While I hold serious disagreements with their deeply held beliefs, we coexist, cooperate at times, and can usually sit down and break bread together, peacefully. Dialogue is always better. No one wins in a civil war.
The true danger lies with the extremists among us; they believe violence is justified to seize and keep power, indefinitely. They often rally behind a demagogue, who usually scapegoats vulnerable groups—whether they be immigrants, trans people, the poor, the sick, etc. The recent right-wing version of this seems to want a theocratic dictatorship, led only by wealthy, straight, white, “Christian” conservative men loyal to a Dear Leader (currently, #47, and whoever’s next, hmm.) The vast majority of Americans do not want that. We cannot be complacent, because a powerful minority can inflict devastating harm on some of us while the rest watch.
Historically, those extremists have worn different hats, hoods, and armbands, but make no mistake, this is that same dangerous intolerance that cycles through different generations and societies. As Frodo lamented, “I wish it need not have happened in my time.” Rest assured, they will be defeated, yet again, however long it takes. Never lose hope. You are not alone. (We) have friends everywhere.
Thanks, Gary. I’ll disagree with the theory that the CPB Memo of 07/07/25 supersedes the link that I had sent on the basis of date. Rather, US Customs and Border Protection is an entity under the Department of Homeland Security, and the Bureau of Consular Affairs is an entity under the Department of State. The latter (which I provided the link for), indicates on their website that the policy document they had issued on 07/02/25 is still current. It would appear to be a conflict between different Federal Agencies rather than a more straightforward superseding of policy.
A quick search informs there are between 72 and 91 separate genders identified by our crack gender studies university professors. I think all 91 should be acceptable for id’s, and not just summarized by an “x”. How hateful is it to deny someone their actual gender identity on their id. And with gender being on a spectrum, I am sure the university experts can further split the difference to come up with even more genders.
And if you can’t readily name and describe all of the 91 genders from memory, I don’t want to hear a single peep from you about my belief there are only 2 genders.
Since the whole “transgender” thing is :junk science”, this is I consider great news…
One cannot “change” their gender by cross – dressing and undergoing cosmetic surgery, as gender is determined by DNA…
@GM…and I’m sure you possess a Phd in whatever science you purport to represent that allows you to pontificate on all kinds of issues, especially when Fox provides your talking points.
Gary, you gonna moderate this thread and not allow slurs? Because hou sure as hell allowed them a few weeks ago.
Gosh (I was going to say “man”), this is stupid. When did the following happened: somebody tried to infiltrate with gender pretenders? Every bad person who entered the US most likely used the M or F.
Back in reality land, there are only Male and Female. Anything else is just mental illness. Yes, gender is binary. Calling out extremely rare mutations or birth defects as evidence of non binary genders proves the rule, since this is not what people are claiming to be.
Nobody cares what you pretend to be, play dress up all you want (but stay out of little girls bathrooms you perv), and if you’re an adult then go ahead and mutilate yourself (but you pay for it), but you’re still the gender you were born in. Reality is undefeated.
@Construction — What slurs? Hardly anything obscene so far. Of course, it’s Gary’s site, so he can do as he wishes.
@1990 – slurs are anything @Construction doesn’t like. Poor little snowflake.