June, 10 2010, 03:59pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Inga Sarda-Sorensen, Director of Communications
(Office) 646.358.1463
isorensen@theTaskForce.org
Task Force Commends State Department for New Passport Standards for Gender Transition
WASHINGTON
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force commends the State Department for a new policy change that allows transgender people to adjust their passports to reflect their new gender upon certification from their medical doctor that they have received appropriate clinical treatment. Before today, sex reassignment surgery was a prerequisite to making a change of gender on a passport, a requirement that was out-of-date based on current medical and social understandings of gender identity. The new standard recognizes that treatment related to gender identity should be based on what an individual needs. This update also brings passport policies up to par with many other transgender-friendly state policies that apply to driver's licenses and other forms of identification.
This change was advocated for by the National and Lesbian Task Force and a number of other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights organizations, many of which are involved in the New Beginning Initiative (NBI), coordinated by the Task Force. NBI advocates for concrete federal administration policy and regulatory changes directly benefiting LGBT people and eliminating discrimination from federal policies. In particular, the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Task Force and the Council for Global Equality advocated for this change, in coalition with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal. The change in policy also applies to birth certificates issued by the State Department for U.S. citizens born abroad, known as Consular Reports of Birth Abroad.
Statement by Rea Carey, Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
"By issuing this policy change, the State Department has recognized that transgender people need to be able to travel and live with identity documents that accurately reflect who they are. The old policy regularly put transgender people at increased risk for harassment and violence. This update will go a long way to rectify this problem. We thank the State Department for taking this important step, and all the organizations that worked together to advocate for this change."
The National LGBTQ Task Force advances full freedom, justice and equality for LGBTQ people. We are building a future where everyone can be free to be their entire selves in every aspect of their lives. Today, despite all the progress we've made to end discrimination, millions of LGBTQ people face barriers in every aspect of their lives: in housing, employment, healthcare, retirement, and basic human rights. These barriers must go. That's why the Task Force is training and mobilizing millions of activists across our nation to deliver a world where you can be you. Join us!
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U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that he is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 Americans and pardoning 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes, a move the White House described as "the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history."
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According to a White House fact sheet, those who received commutations "have been serving their sentences at home for at least one year under the Covid-era CARES Act," a law that extended the amount of time in which people could be placed in home confinement to reduce the spread of the virus in prisons.
The White House did not name those who received pardons or commutations but said the list includes a "decorated military veteran," a "nurse who has led emergency response for several natural disasters," and "an addiction counselor who volunteers his time to help young people find their purpose."
The Biden Justice Department paused federal executions in 2021, but President-elect Donald Trump pledged on the campaign trail to expand the use of the death penalty and is expected to allow the executions of the 40 men on death row to take place if they're still there when he takes office next month.
In a statement on Thursday, Biden said that he has "the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses."
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Biden, who campaigned on ending the death penalty at the federal level, vowed to "take more steps in the weeks ahead" as his administration reviews clemency petitions, leaving open the possibility of commutations for death row prisoners.
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