Hunter Schafer, a transgender actor and star of the HBO series ‘Euphoria,’ revealed that her new passport was issued with a male gender marker because of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump.
Schafer, 26, posted a video on social media detailing how her passport had been stolen while she was filming in Spain. After receiving an emergency passport, she later had to apply for a new, permanent one in Los Angeles. Schafer, who transitioned to female when she was a teenager, said her original passport identified her as female, but the new one she received marked her as male.
Schafer said she wasn’t posting the video to ‘create drama,’ ‘fearmonger’ or ‘receive consolation,’ but rather because she thought it was worth noting ‘the reality of the situation and that it is actually happening.’
‘Trans people are beautiful. We are never going to stop existing. I’m never gonna stop being trans,’ she said in the video. ‘A letter and a passport can’t change that. And f— this administration.’
Trump signed the executive order, ‘Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,’ on his first day in office. The order mandates the federal government to recognize only two sexes — male and female — based on immutable biological characteristics, which must be reflected on official documents, like passports.
The State Department, responsible for passports, is no longer issuing passports with the ‘X’ marker that’s been available since 2021 and is not honoring requests to change gender markers between ‘M’ and ‘F.’
Schafer acknowledged the executive order in her TikTok video: ‘Because our president, you know, is a lot of talk, I was like, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it.’ And, today, I saw it,’ Schafer said, holding up her new passport page with the ‘M’ marker.
The 26-year-old said she has had female gender markers on her license and passport since she was a teenager, though she noted that she did not have her birth certificate amended.
‘It doesn’t really change anything about me or my transness. However, it does make my life a little harder,’ Schafer said in the video, saying she has to travel for the first time with the new passport next week.
‘Trans people are beautiful. We are never going to stop existing. I’m never going to stop being trans. A letter and a passport can’t change that,’ she concluded.
Seven people represented by the American Civil Liberties Union have already filed a lawsuit claiming the policy violates privacy and First Amendment rights.
The ACLU has said it has been contacted by more than 1,500 transgender people or family members, ‘many with passport applications suspended or pending, who are concerned about being able to get passports that accurately reflect their identity.’
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
