Gender Inclusive Passport Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5962 To require the Secretary of State to require the inclusion of a gender neutral designation in a passport, passport card, or Consular Report of Birth Abroad, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 25, 2020 Mr. KHANNA (for himself, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. CICILLINE, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. HAALAND, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. KEN- NEDY, Mr. KILMER, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. POCAN, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. ROUDA, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To require the Secretary of State to require the inclusion of a gender neutral designation in a passport, passport card, or Consular Report of Birth Abroad, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gender Inclusive Pass- 4 port Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5962.IH H5962 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5962 IH SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF GENDER NEUTRAL DESIGNATION 1 OPTION IN PASSPORTS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 3 sion of law, the Secretary of State shall, not later than 4 one year after the date of the enactment of this section, 5 permit an applicant for a passport, passport card, or Con- 6 sular Report of Birth Abroad to record gender in an appli- 7 cation for such passport, passport card, or Consular Re- 8 port of Birth Abroad with a sex data element authorized 9 by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) 10 specified in ICAO Doc 9303, Machine Readable Travel 11 Documents. 12 (b) GENDER DESIGNATION.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in 14 accordance with subsection (a), shall permit an ap- 15 plicant for a passport, passport card, or Consular 16 Report of Birth Abroad to use an ‘‘unspecified’’ (X) 17 gender designation. Such designation shall be made 18 available without restriction to all applicants for a 19 passport, passport card, or Consular Report of Birth 20 Abroad. 21 (2) PROHIBITIONS.—The Secretary of State 22 may not— 23 (A) deny the issuance of a passport, pass- 24 port card, or Consular Report of Birth Abroad 25 to an otherwise qualified applicant based solely 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5962.IH H5962 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5962 IH on a request by such applicant for an ‘‘unspec- 1 ified’’ (X) gender designation; or 2 (B) require such an applicant to select the 3 ‘‘unspecified’’ (X) gender designation on an ap- 4 plication for passport, passport card, or Con- 5 sular Report of Birth Abroad, including, with- 6 out limitation, an applicant who has one or 7 more identity documents bearing a sex or gen- 8 der designation other than male (M) or female 9 (F). 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5962.IH H5962 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS