Hunter Schafer, a well-known trans actress, explained that despite choosing the female category on her application, her new passport says male.
Hunter Schafer clarified that her intention wasn’t to get sympathy but to raise awareness. (Photo Credits: Instagram)
Euphoria star Hunter Schafer recently revealed that her new passport lists her gender as male. The star explained that all her previous IDs, including passports and driver’s licenses, have always listed her as female. This change follows a policy reinstated by Donald Trump, recognizing only two genders—male and female—on official documents. Schafer openly criticized the decision, emphasizing that no paperwork can erase her identity as a trans woman. She clarified that her intent in sharing this was not to seek sympathy but to highlight the challenges faced by transgender individuals navigating bureaucratic systems.
Hunter said, “I had a bit of a harsh reality check today. I think the first day of Trump’s presidency, he signed an executive order to declare only two genders recognized by the state, male and female, assigned at birth. As a result, ‘The Bureau of Consular Affairs has frozen passport applications requesting a gender marker change or renewals or new applications with a gender marker deferring from an applicant’s gender assigned at birth.’ My gender markers were first changed in my teens when I first got my driver’s license and then passports, following all have been female since then, hasn’t really been a problem.”
Hunter Schafer shared that while she was filming in Barcelona last year, her bag, which had her passport, was stolen. As a temporary solution, she received an emergency passport, which was valid for only one year. Once she returned to the US, she had to apply for a proper passport. She completed the application as usual and selected female as her gender. However, when she received the new passport, she was shocked to see that her gender was male. Hunter Schafer clarified that she wasn’t sharing this to get sympathy but wanted to highlight that such issues are happening.
The actress says she was completely surprised because she never thought something like this would actually happen. While she has certain privileges as a well-known and successful trans woman who is white, this issue still affects her. Since she never updated her birth certificate, Hunter now believes that passport agencies might be checking birth certificates before issuing passports. However, she is not sure what changed in the process.
“I don’t give a f*** that they put an M on my passport. It doesn’t change really anything about me or my transness, however, it does make life a little harder. I’m pretty sure it’s gonna come along with having to out myself to border patrol agents much more often than I would like to or is really necessary. I just want to say 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 and f*** this administration,” Hunter Schafer concluded.
