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(obligatory) Why does a passport need a gender marker again?
for the same reason a birth certificate, drivers license, social security record, or any other official document does: no reason at all!
It doesn't even make sense in medical contexts, where what matters is more the ability to become pregnant than something like your socially-assigned gender, so in an ideal world a medical chart might record the presence of organs like a uterus or medical capacities, for example to indicate a need for pregnancy testing before administering certain treatments, but not something like "male" or "female" which doesn't correspond to the reality of biological sex and will miss important nuances.
Ontario’s health card doesn’t even display a sex marker on it, though it is part of the information associated with the card. I really don’t understand why other forms of ID need it. It isn’t relevant toward identifying you or your ability to operate a vehicle. So why does it exist? Like you said: no reason at all!
The US social security card does not have a gender marker. However, the database entry associated with the card does, and that database is what the feds use as the primary reference for determining someone's gender in federal systems.
There are no circumstances where an ID card would be unable identify an individual but for the gender marker. Gender markers should not exist. Gender shouldn't even be recorded.
Examining the genitals of newborn babies and recording the findings is weird unhinged behavior. It should not be normal.
Imo,
It makes sense for a hospital birth record (not a government document) to note "observed sex at birth", alongside other measurements like length and weight, since it's a medical record and gives then a moderately good first guess about internal organs.
It makes sense for drivers license and passport to have "gender expression" alongside hair and eye color, height, weight and if you wear glasses. Everything in that section is self-reported and helps make sure you're the person on the document, but they're all things that can be situationally different or go out of date. With how dimorphic our fashion is culturally, gender expression can be pretty identifying, similar to the other qualities.
Every other government document has no business recording sex or gender in any capacity. Neither of them is the government's business.
Yeah, I have an X on my ID so even though it's technically valid for air travel, I brought my passport instead which has my AGAB and wore really loose fitting clothes. Fortunately I didn't have to go through the x-ray that would give away that my body parts don't match my passport.
I wiped all of my devices in case I was detained, not that I have anything to hide, but I don't want to out any of my friends as trans for them to get targeted.
And I've been staying away from public bathrooms despite having a hard time holding my bladder due to some medical issues retaining salt and water. Considering getting a catheter or something for when I'm in public for more than a few hours because dehydrating myself all the time isn't good for my health.
It's really scary right now even living in a fairly progressive leaning state. I won't even think about traveling to my hometown to visit family where it's more conservative. I'm really hoping on the flight back I'm able to slip through security again. It's going to be a lot of paperwork to get my birth certificate changed to what isn't actually my gender since that's not an option, but more closely matches my body parts.
It's sad that just existing means you are classified as a terrorist and have to avoid interacting with society to survive.
Stay away from the US if you can if you are trans, intersex, non-binary, or even cis if you just have some facial traits that make you look a little less like your AGAB. It's only getting worse every day.
Technically you could be safe flying in and out of places like California, but just boycott the US regardless.
Customs and border control is a federal agency. States do not control their own borders.
If you have to interact with the federal government, it is generally safer to go to offices in accepting areas, because despite federal control, offices are staffed by locals. For safety, check in with locals and vet your social security office before arrival.
However Canadians cannot do this by selecting their destination. When flying to the US, the customs check takes place in the foreign airport. They call it pre-clearence. Every major Canadian airport has pre-clearence, so your passport will be checked by customs agents, specifically selected for a foreign deployment. Upon the return trip the federal tsa will check your passport again before the flight.
My advice for travelers to the US is do not. Go literally anywhere else, or stay home. But if you have to, I would consider a land crossing, because in that case you only pass through a federal check one time upon arrival. But regardless check with local communities to ensure the federal agents you interact with are the least bad possible.
this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2025
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