Drag Race star Aja says the gender on her passport was changed without her consent
Aja commented on the matter saying: "This isn’t a clerical error. This is a federal fumble with my life in the crosshairs"
By Gary Grimes
Drag Race contestant Aja has reported that the gender on her passport was changed from female to male when she recently submitted for a replacement.
“Today, the U.S. government handed me a passport that says “M” — even though my previous one said “F” and every document I’ve submitted says female,” the performer, who came out as a transgender woman in 2021, wrote in a post on social media. “I didn’t ask for a change. I was just replacing a lost passport.”
“Instead, they told me they updated the gender marker to “match their records” — records that I submitted, that are all legally female,” Aja went on.
“When I said that having a document with incorrect information puts me in danger traveling internationally, I was denied escalation, refused further documentation, and sent out the door with paperwork and a pat on the head.”
The star expressed concern for her safety in the future when she travels to other countries for work: “Now I’m being forced to choose between my safety and my career — between flying with a passport that outs me at every checkpoint, or canceling tens of thousands of dollars in international work I’m booked for.
“This is what transphobia in policy looks like. Quiet. Calculated. And deadly.”
This incident comes in the wake of Donald Trump signing an executive order on gender just hours after he was sworn in earlier this year.
The order, titled ‘Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government’ states ‘woman means adult human female’.
In spite of the emotional turmoil, the drag artist remained steadfast in her disdain for the US government, writing: “This isn’t a clerical error. This is a federal fumble with my life in the crosshairs.
“I’m not going down. I’m going public. I’m going legal. And I’m dragging the system with me!” – Aja
“And if they thought I’d carry this passport in silence? They forgot who the fuck I am,” she went on. “I’m not going down. I’m going public. I’m going legal. And I’m dragging the system with me!”
Aja’s experience echoes that of trans Euphoria actress Hunter Schafer who revealed the same thing happened to her when she replaced her passport earlier this year.