Euphoria’sHunter Schaferrevealed today via a TikTok video that her renewed passport now lists her gender as “male” — a result of President Donald Trump’s executive order stating that the United States government would only recognize two, binary genders: male and female. A transgender actress and activist for LGBTQ+ rights, Schafer has recently become a well-known face in Hollywood thanks to her roles in HBO’sEuphoriaas well as theHunger Gamesprequel,The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Withthe veritable hailstorm of executive ordersthat Trump has signed since taking office one month ago, it can be difficult to distinguish which orders have actually affected government policy. In a video posted to her TikTok stories (republished in a tweet below), Schafer described how, on the first day of his presidency, Trump declared that only two genders would be recognized by the state, prompting the Bureau of Consular Affairs to “[freeze] 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.”
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Schafer went on to explain how all of her documents have been correctly labeled with the “female” gender marker since she first acquired a driver’s license almost a decade ago. However, after her passport was stolen last year in Barcelona, she had to apply for a replacement. “I went to the Federal Passport Agency today in L.A. … I’ve had to do this one time before, no part of the process was different,” Schafer said. “I filled everything out just like I normally would, I put female, and when it was picked up today and I opened it up, they had changed the marker to male.”
I was shocked, because I don’t know, I just didn’t think it was actually going to happen.
What Schafer’s Passport Change Could Mean for Other Trans Individuals
Schafer added that she had never changed the gender listed on her birth certificate, which could explain why the current presidential administration felt it necessary to alter her passport following Trump’s executive order. However, those who haven’t gone through the process themselves are likely unfamiliar with just how difficult it is to adjust documents like IDs, passports, and birth certificates to reflect a preferred name and gender. A lot of time and money is required — not to mention piles of paperwork that can be tricky to fill out and submit correctly — so for most people, it’s just not feasible to change documents that they’ll rarely use, such as birth certificates. But now, Trump’s executive orderwill negatively impact anyonewho doesn’t have the resources to deal with so many bureaucratic processes.
For Schafer, the arbitrary changing of her passport’s gender marker won’t affect how she identifies — but it will complicate her life in other ways. “I don’t give a f**k that they put an M on my passport,” she said, continuing:
“It doesn’t change really anything about me or my transness; however, it does make life a little harder. I’ll find out next week when I have to travel abroad with my new passport, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to come along with having to out myself to like border patrol agents and that whole gig much more often than I would like to or is really necessary.”
She added that, while her personal experience carries certain privileges, other trans people affected by this policy will experience additional difficulties due to their own unique situations. “Trans people are beautiful,” Schafer said at the end of the video. “We are never going to stop existing, I am never going to stop being trans, a letter on a passport can’t change that. And f**k this administration. I don’t really have an answer on what to do about this, but I feel it was important to share. This is real.”
Schafer has continuously championed trans rights while pursuing a star-studded career, and despite this setback, she doesn’t show any signs of stopping. She’s set to reprise her role as Julesin the long-awaited third season ofEuphoria, and will also appear in the Amazon TV seriesBlade Runner 2099, a follow-up to the originalBlade Runnerfilm and subsequent sequel.
Source:Pop Base
