Miles and his wife applied for passports in December.
Miles is not alone.
The change in policy has left trans and nonbinary people scrambling to obtain passports with their correct gender markers.
A person begins the process of filling out a passport application with an X gender marker, at their home in Alexandria, Virginia, on April 11, 2022.Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
Part of this administrations strategy has really been to create this sense of chaos, Picasso says.
The fear is purposeful.
Its the purpose of all this uncertainty.
The level of fear is difficult to describe, Picasso says.
Syd, a 25-year-old who is nonbinary, wonders if their drivers license and passport are considered valid anymore.
They just canceled two trips they had planned in February because of the confusion.
I dont know if Ill be able to fly, Syd says.
Theyre planning to apply for a new passport under the gender they were assigned at birth.
As an interracial couple, Syd says, they just dont feel safe anymore.
Its scary because if I do need to seek refuge somewhere else, I cant leave.
Shes submitted everything required of a passport program but hasnt heard an update.
It feels like, as a trans person, we are just being left in the dark.
We dont have anyone to protect us.
We thought wed have more time past day one, he says.
Nobody knows whats going to happen, he says.
Im just trying to prepare for the worst.
A few days after that first video, Mary posted an update.
She had gotten her passport but it marked her gender as male.
I love America, Mary says in the update, kissing the passport she holds in her hands.
But this is not the America I know.
