The two largest flight attendant unions in the United States have sounded the alarm over the Trump administration’s ‘unfounded attacks’ on transgender people, saying that an executive order that affirms there are only two sexes will affect numerous programs used by transgender and non-binary crew members.
Two of the most notable impacts of Executive Order 14168, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, will be on federal documentation like passports and changes to TSA screening.
The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), which represents crew members at United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and Spirit Airlines, among others, is particularly concerned about the executive order’s impact on passports.
The Trump administration is already facing a lawsuit seeking to keep in place rules that allow transgender people to use the gender that they identify as in their passport or an ‘X’ designator for non-binary people. The State Department has, however, stopped issuing passports with an X designator.
“The rhetoric and hateful speech about our friends, family, and flying partners is jarring and very concerning,” the union said in a recent statement. “We are fighting thoughtfully and strategically during this tumultuous time.”
“These executive orders are stunningly broad,” the statement continued. “But they do not change our commitment to supporting our Trans Flying Partners. Our Human Rights and Equity Committee is working with the ACLU on passports issues specifically.”
Echoing that sentiment, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) which represents crew members at American Airlines, said it remained committed to supporting all the flight attendants at the Fort Worth-based carrier, including transgender and non-binary crew.
The union warned that the Trump administration’s changes to federal identification documents were an attempt to ‘eradicate’ transgender people from existence.
How airlines react to the executive order are yet to be revealed. Under pressure from the former Biden administration, Airlines 4 America, a major lobby group that represents the largest airlines in the US, agreed in 2022 to add gender choices for non-binary passengers, including X for unspecified and U for undisclosed.
At this time, American Airlines, Delta and United Airlines all continues to offer X and U gender choices.
The State Department issued its first passport with an X gender marker in 2021, although any mention of this achievement has now been deleted from the department’s website, along with advice given to transgender people that the gender they chose for their passport did not need to match their birth certificate.
Earlier this week, it emerged that transgender officers at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would no longer be allowed to perform pat-down searches of passengers at airport security checkpoints.
All guidance material intended for transgender passengers on the TSA website has also been deleted.
There was no hateful rhetoric. I’m tired of hearing about train knees. We used to call that mental illness a few decades ago. If someone wants to pretend that they are something they aren’t that is fine with most Americans, I believe. But stop pushing it on us. We are sick of it. When I was little, I used to pretend I was vampire. Guess what? I wasn’t. Everyone was born one or two ways. Your physical makeup defines this. Deal with it as best you can and stop shouting about it, pushing it on people, and being violent. It is so nice to have a government that has common sense again.