(2025-02-05) Real ID deadline in May in context of Trump gender order

Donald Trump issued his executive order about gender on Jan20.

Jan27, the State Department stopped processing passport applications/renewals with gender=X

Meanwhile, after decades of delay, the really-truly deadline for everyone to have Real ID is May07.

If you already have a passport with gender=X, should you be concerned?

• Jan22: As the Washington D.C.-based publication NOTUS reported Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified the order is not retroactive.

What if you have a passport, but don't have a Real ID?

• Note you can still use your passport as your Real ID. But maybe you don't want to risk carrying that so often...
• Real-IDs are distributed by states, not the federal government (though compliant with the federal Real ID standard). So if your state continues to support X, it shouldn't be a problem.
  • California’s Department of Motor Vehicles said President Donald Trump’s new executive order on gender will not affect state REAL IDs that allow people to select “X” as a nonbinary gender marker.
• It’s unclear whether the standards may change as a result of the move. “We’ll be watching to see what happens with REAL IDs,” Rossman said.
• “If you currently have a driver's license that says the correct gender marker, and then to become REAL ID Act compliant, you have to show your birth certificate, or passport—could that cause an issue? It's very state specific, and we're going to have to see how different states handle it,” Chriss says.