Passport edition: Breaking Down the Supreme Court Decision

TLDR: I don't love it, but I'm not surprised by it. I am grateful the court declined to hear Kim Davis's attempt at making marriage straight again. For the nitty gritty on that, from Law Dork:

"While [Clarence Thomas] and Alito might desire to do so, there was no reason to believe that the court as a body is open to considering — let alone taking — that extreme sort of a step now.

Even as I personally got extremely frustrated at times by the coverage from some corners, the fear people had is real. The reason the stories went viral is because the Supreme Court has made it clear that law is more a matter of will than of principle. That is a legitimate fear, even if I think it was exploited, knowingly or unknowingly, in this case."

Where I've Been

I took a day trip to the New York State Museum in Albany to see this quirky exhibit of mushroom illustrations, from a woman mycologist whose illustrated manuscript of Maryland's mushrooms was never published, because of male gatekeepers.

"Fungi were outcast organisms often studied by outcast people" read the exhibition description, and I couldn't agree more.

For my fellow shroom nerds, I wrote this essay on wildfires, mushrooms, and queer resilience last year for Panorama.

Hot Takes on Queer News

Trans travelers can no longer self-determine their gender on their passports–but the fight isn't over yet.

For anyone planning to travel soon, let's break down what just happened and where we go from here:

Last week, the Supreme Court issued a stay in Orr vs. Trump, aka the passport case.

Legally, the stay means that the government's policies are back in effect while the case moves through lower courts.

In other words, no more X passports or ability to self-declare your gender. If you apply for or renew a passport now, it will list the sex assigned at birth.

Remember earlier in the summer, when the ACLU encouraged trans and nonbinary travelers to get their documents in order ASAP? This is why.

The justices said nothing and people are pissed.

Because the stay was issued using the shadow docket, the justices did not have to explain their vote. Or provide any commentary at all.

For most people, this has been the most frustrating part.

We don't know who voted for or against the transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs in the case.

All we know is a majority of justices (at least 5 of the 6 Republican appointed justices) agreed with the President's claims that it was harmful to him to not get his way.

Because that's what the government's case boiled down to.

That's all the government's case boiled down to.

The President had a thought, or a feeling, or issued an executive order that something should be a certain way, and anything preventing his EOs from proceeding is injurious to his wee ego, and therefore threatening.

The final outcome of this case is unknown.

I'll say that one more time. Trump won the stay, but the matter is not settled. Yet. What changed is the brief window of time in which you could get official documents that were gender congruous. That's gone now.

And while it's easy to think this just makes airports more stressful for trans and nonbinary stuff, the stakes are higher.

As Ketanji Jackson wrote in her moving dissent:

Full text of the decision here.

The Supreme Court's decision creates an arbitrary two-tiered system for trans and nonbinary people.

Anyone who already has a valid passport can use it, regardless of whether the sex listed reflects their assigned-at-birth sex or not.

Anyone in possession of an X gender passport can fly with it, and. M Gessen wrote about their experience doing so for the NYT (gift link).

But no such luck for those not fortunate enough to already have applied for a passport.

For me, this is the most vexing part. The transparent hypocrisy of treating some folks one way because of the arbitrary deadline on their document, and some folks another way when gender markers themselves are such a recent addition to official documents.

That's all for now. Off to update the chapter of my book that touches on passports and US travel now before I hand it in to my editor!

New posts

​How to Check if Any Hotel is LGBTQ-Friendly? ​

I’ve learned the hard way that you can’t always trust a rainbow flag. Just because a hotel posts is located in a queer-friendly city or posts Pride content on their social media doesn’t guarantee you’ll truly be welcome. Enter LGBTQ-friendly accreditations, a third-party stamp of approval that lets you – has done the work.

This post includes a downloadable checklist, but since you're already subscribers, you can grab a copy of that here.

Don't forget: Through the end of the year, you can order my chapbook on the soft queer life and save $2. Ordering is a great way to say "thank you" if you've gotten value from this newsletter. You'll also get some pretty special bonuses from me.