Massachusetts Sports Organizations Join Lawsuit Against Trump Administration Over Anti-Trans Passport Policy
By A nameless game developer identified as “Sawyer Soe” has joined others in filing a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration, alleging discriminatory practices due to a newly established anti-trans passport policy issued on January 20, 2025.
The lawsuit—filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts on February 7—claims that President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the State Department conducted a “sudden, discriminatory, and harmful reversal” of previous passport policies. During the Biden administration, transgender, nonbinary, and intersex individuals were able to acquire passports that accurately reflected their gender identity.
Under Trump, the Department stopped issuing passports with the “X” designation used by many nonbinary individuals, and will not permit individuals to change the gender on their passport post-transition, forcing them to rely on documents that identify them by their sex assigned at birth.
Soe’s involvement in the lawsuit illustrates how this policy shift endangers transgender, nonbinary, and intersex game developers.
“The Passport Policy is illegal and unconstitutional,” the ACLU stated in its filing. “It discriminates against individuals based on their sex and, for some, their transgender status. It is driven by unacceptable bias. It cannot be defended under any form of judicial evaluation, and it wrongly attempts to invalidate the existence of transgender, intersex, and nonbinary individuals who are present today as they have always been.”
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Soe is one of seven plaintiffs represented by the ACLU in this case. They and another plaintiff, “Bella Boe,” have requested anonymity throughout the legal process. The lawsuit contends that Soe, a nonbinary developer at “a leading video game development company,” is among those adversely affected by the changes to the passport regulations.
How? The lawsuit states that Soe has been unable to accurately update their United States passport, which expired in 2019, shortly after they publicly came out as nonbinary. Soe’s employer is reportedly planning an “on-site collaboration” with their colleagues in Canada, necessitating multiple international trips in the coming year.
“[Soe] would feel more secure if they had an ‘X’ gender designation on their passport as it would align with their identity, safeguard their privacy by preventing the disclosure of their sex assigned at birth to strangers, and correspond with the other identification documents they currently hold,” the filing continues. “Due to the Passport Policy, [Soe] will no longer be able to obtain an ‘X’ gender designation on their passport that truly represents who they are, how they express their identity, and how they are perceived by others.”
Sawyer Soe’s struggle highlights the dangers faced by transgender game developers under Trump
In 2024, game developers openly expressed concerns multiple times that a return to office under President Trump could result in harm to their professional community. Among the many worries were those originated from “Project 2025,” an initiative led by the Heritage Foundation designed to outline policies and pre-approve staffers for the new administration. The group outlined its objectives in a prominent document titled “The Mandate for Leadership.”
The document does not include any statements regarding policy revisions related to gender identity markers on passports. However, as we noted last year, the document targets transgender individuals, labeling “transgender ideology” as a form of exploitation that lacks “First Amendment protection.”
Former President-Elect Trump Transition Team chief legal counsel also argued in the document that the Department of Labor should “rescind regulations prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, and sex characteristics.”
Soe’s involvement in the ACLU-filed lawsuit exemplifies yet another instance of how