In October of last year, the U.S. government issued its first passport with an “X” gender marker — a divergence from the male and female descriptors that have been used to describe human beings for millennia.
A new study from the Williams Institute, a think tank associated with the UCLA School of Law, is estimating roughly 1.4% of “nonbinary LGBTQ adults” in the U.S. — about 16,700 people — “may request passports with an X gender marker each year,” according to a recently published report detailing the survey’s results.
The study’s authors, Jody L. Herman and Kathryn K. O’Neill, explained how they arrived at that number:
[T]he average number of driver’s licenses with X gender markers issued per year in the 18 states with available data (13,804) was multiplied by 0.425 to create an estimate of how many passports with X gender markers may be requested and issued per year in these states (5,866). This estimated demand for passports with X gender markers in these 18 states was divided by the total population of nonbinary LGBTQ people ages 18-60 estimated to live in these states, to create an estimated percentage of nonbinary LGBTQ people who would request passports with an X gender marker per year (1.37%). 1.37% was multiplied by the total estimated number of nonbinary LGBTQ people ages 18-60 in the United States (1,219,000),14 to create an estimate of the number of passports with X gender markers that may be requested or issued per year (16,700).
The researchers noted they made “several assumptions” in their analysis, including that they did not consider any changes in desire for the “X” identifier in the future. They concede that could very likely change “due to younger age groups being more likely than older age groups to identify as nonbinary.”
As it stands right now, 21 states and Washington, D.C., allow residents to choose an “X” sex descriptor on their driver’s licenses, according to The Hill. Additionally, beginning this month, the “X” identifier will become widely available for any American who wants to use it on his or her passport, NBC News reported.
Listen to the latest episode of the Faithwire podcast 👇
Jessica Stern, U.S. special diplomatic envoy for LGBTQ rights, said the addition of the “X” option is important because people “do not always fit within a male or female category around the world” and adding the descriptor “propels the U.S. forward toward ensuring that our administrative systems account for the diversity of gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics among U.S. citizens.”
The shift comes nearly a year after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced in June 2021 that the federal government agency would allow people to choose the “M” or “F” identifier, regardless of the medical documentation accounting for their actual biological sex, which cannot be changed.
“Most immediately, we will be updating our procedures to allow applicants to self-select their gender as ‘M’ or ‘F’ and will no longer require medical certification if an applicant’s self-selected gender does not match the gender on their other citizenship or identity documents,” the country’s top diplomat said, per a press release.
Given the changes, the Transportation Security Administration announced in late March it will retool its “current, gender-based system” for pat-downs and screenings with “more accurate technology.” Historically, transgender people who identify with a sex in competition to their biology have undergone additional security checks due to frequent irregularities in sensitive areas. Moving forward, the TSA will eliminate sex and gender considerations when validating a traveler’s identification and safety at security checkpoints.
The TSA PreCheck system now also allows applicants to select an “M” or “F” sex descriptor they would like saved in the system. According to the agency, the identifier chosen “does not need to match the gender on supporting documentation, such as birth certificate, passport, or state-issued ID.”
All of this comes just days after President Joe Biden released a video for the “Transgender Day of Visibility,” in which he boldly asserted that the best way parents can keep their children “safe and healthy” is by affirming their child’s “identity,” whatever it may be.
He went on to state that those who identify as “transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming” are “brave” and “made in the image of God.”
While believers can — and should — absolutely see every human being as made in the image of God, as it is written in Genesis 1:27, that does not mean all our choices, feelings, and actions are in alignment with God’s perfect plan.
The Lord created human beings with two distinct sexes — male and female — and that cannot be changed or altered. Any attempt to do so is antithetical to God’s design for human sexuality, which is to be enjoyed in the confines of marriage between one man and one woman.
***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, developed by our parent company, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***