Germany, InterPride Issue LGBTQ Travel Advisories About United States

At least one foreign LGBTQ rights group has already pulled out of WorldPride to “safeguard our trans and nonbinary staff” from persecution by the U.S. government.

Photo by Brian Kyed on Unsplash

As previously reported by The Advocate, German officials have issued a warning for trans, nonbinary and gender nonconforming individuals traveling to the United States, saying that transgender people “should contact the responsible U.S. authorities prior to travel to the U.S. to inquire about current entry regulations,” German officials told Erin in the Morning.

Meanwhile, InterPride — a global association of over 400 Pride organizations from over 70 countries — issued a similar notice on its social media pages. “Due to an executive order issued by the U.S. president on Jan. 20, all travelers must select either ‘male’ or ‘female’ when applying for entry or visas,” the post said, as reported by The Washington Blade. “The gender listed at birth will be considered valid. If your passport has ‘X’ as a gender marker or differs from your birth-assigned gender, we strongly recommend contacting the U.S. diplomatic mission before traveling to confirm entry requirements.”

After President Donald Trump’s executive order, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a memo outlining procedures in cases where there is “reasonable doubt” surrounding the sex of a person seeking to enter the country. Meanwhile, the State Department has ceased its distribution of passports with an “X” gender marker, thrusting those with this indicator on their documents into potential legal jeopardy.

In a statement to Erin in the Morning, the State Department reiterated Trump’s E.O. defining sex as binary and immutable. “Visa applicants are instructed to list their ‘biological sex at birth’ on the visa application,” the official said. “To verify an applicant’s sex at birth, the consular officer may consider documents provided by the applicant including his or her passport or birth certificate and any others as needed.”

Tarah Demant, the National Director of Programs at Amnesty International USA, said other international travel warnings about the U.S. may be on the horizon.

“There is a real threat of profiling and targeting transgender, nonbinary and genderqueer travelers, with real implications for their safety and security,” Demant told Erin in the Morning. “The U.S. government has instructed consular offices to deny applications made by transgender athletes, which opens the door to blocks on visas for people who have, quote unquote, misrepresented their sex with their application.”

Demant said this was tantamount to an all-out assault on the civil liberties not only of trans and queer people, but all people — trans or cis, American citizens or not. The travel warning is especially dire as Washington, D.C., is slated to host this year’s WorldPride celebration in June. At least one foreign LGBTQ rights group has already pulled out of the event due to safety concerns, saying it needed to “safeguard our trans and nonbinary staff” from persecution by the U.S. government.

“Border patrol authority looks at your passport, looks at you and thinks, ‘That's not what I think a woman looks like.’ What does this mean for someone who's traveling then?” Demant said. “Now they have to prove that their gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth — which is a non-scientific and very discriminatory way of understanding sex and gender.”

This can be extremely difficult and unnecessarily burdensome, if not near-impossible, especially for the millions of people in countries where state-issued birth certificates are less common and more difficult to ascertain. “What we're looking at is an opportunity for U.S. authorities to then further detain LGBTQ people, particularly trans or assumed-trans people,” Demant said.