Hunter Schafer, the transgender actress best known for her role on HBO’s “Euphoria,” says her new passport now lists her as a male in accordance with the Trump administration’s new policy on gender markers.
Schafer shared the news in a lengthy TikTok video, noting that her passport was stolen while filming overseas. She said she selected “female” in her passport application, but the new travel document says “male.”
Who is Hunter Schafer?
Schafer, 26, is a transgender actress best known for her role in HBO’s “Euphoria.” Schafer plays Jules Vaughn, a transgender teenager who’s at times close to the main character Rue.
RELATED: Trump signs executive order aiming to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports
She also had a role in the Hunger Games prequel, starring alongside Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler.
In the TikTok video, Schafer said she changed her gender to female on driver’s licenses and passports as a teenager, but she never changed it on her birth certificate.
She said she wasn’t posting the video for sympathy, but instead to raise awareness of what’s going on.
“I just didn’t think it was actually going to happen,” she said. “I’m scared of the way this stuff sort of slowly gets implemented … We start to normalize the circumstances we’re under.”
RELATED: All-gender bathroom at Denver high school under federal investigation
“It’s not just talk,” she continued. “This is real, and it’s happening.”
Schafer said the change to her passport doesn’t change “me or my transness,” but she’s concerned about traveling abroad next week because of the discrepancy on her new passport.
What happened to gender markers on passports?
The backstory:
An executive order signed by Trump declares that the federal government will recognize only two immutable sexes: male and female. The definition will be based on whether people are born with eggs or sperm, rather than on their chromosomes. The change is being pitched as a way to protect women from “gender extremism.”
RELATED: Watch: Trump clashes with Maine’s governor: “See you in court”
The State Department quickly stopped issuing travel documents with the “X” gender marker preferred by many nonbinary people, who don’t identify as strictly male or female. The department also stopped allowing people to change the gender listed on their passport or get new ones that reflect their gender rather than their sex assigned at birth.
Applications that had already been submitted seeking gender marker changes were put on hold. The State Department also replaced its webpage with information for “LGBTQI+” travelers to just “LGB,” removing any reference to transgender or intersex people.
The Source: This report includes information from Hunter Schafer’s TikTok video and The Associated Press.
LGBTQEntertainmentNewsEntertainment
