The Passport Sanity Act would prohibit the U.S. Department of State from issuing any passport, passport card, or Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) that includes the nonbinary “X” gender designation. It requires that every application for these documents present only male or female gender designations, and it bars the use of the X designation on any covered document. The bill defines “covered document” to include these three specific document types and assigns responsibility to the Secretary of State to implement these changes. The measure is titled the Passport Sanity Act and was introduced in the House (H.R. 1139) in the 119th Congress and referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. It does not include provisions about penalties or enforcement mechanisms beyond directing the State Department to follow these requirements.
Key Points
- 1Short title: This act may be cited as the “Passport Sanity Act.”
- 2Prohibition on X marker: The Secretary of State must prohibit the inclusion of the unspecified (X) gender designation on covered documents.
- 3Binary gender designations only: Applications for covered documents must include only male and female gender designations.
- 4Scope of the ban: The ban applies to passports, passport cards, and Consular Report of Birth Abroad issued by the Department of State.
- 5Implementation and enforcement: The act assigns responsibility to the Secretary of State to ensure compliance, but the text does not specify penalties or detailed enforcement mechanisms.