The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced on March 31 that there would be new standards for screening transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming passengers.

“Over the coming months, TSA will move swiftly to implement more secure and efficient screening processes that are gender neutral, as well as technological updates that will enhance security and make TSA PreCheck enrollment more inclusive," TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a statement released on Transgender Day of Visibility.

The changes include:

• Replacing the gender-based Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) units in US airports with new, more accurate technology that will improve the experience of passengers who have been required to undergo additional screening due to alarms in "sensitive areas".
• Reducing the number of pat-down screenings.
• Updatingthe TSA PreCheck programme to include an “X” gender marker option on the application and allowing TSA PreCheck enrollees to select their gender based on self-attestation, regardless of the gender on their identification documents.

Gender X passports

US media also reported that the White House and the State Department have announced from April 11, US citizens will be able to select "X" as the gender marker on their passport application. 

The definition of the X marker will be "unspecified or another gender identity," and it will become available for other documents in 2023, USA Today quoted the State Department as saying.