Multiple outlets are reporting that actress Hunter Schafer, known for her roles in Euphoria, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and Amazon’s upcoming Blade Runner 2099, recently took to TikTok to share a troubling update about her new passport.
Despite having legally changed her gender marker years ago, her renewed passport now lists her as male, a direct result, she believes, of Donald Trump’s executive order limiting gender recognition to male and female as assigned at birth.
A Change Schafer Didn’t Expect
Schafer explained in her video that the issue arose after she applied for a new passport to replace one that was stolen while she was filming in Barcelona. Having had her gender marker legally updated since her teens—first on her driver’s license, then on previous passports—she didn’t anticipate any complications. However, upon receiving her new document, she was shocked to see the gender marker had been changed to male without her consent.
“I filled everything out just like I normally would. I put female, and when it was picked up today and I opened it up, they had changed the marker to male,” Schafer said.
She went on to note that this policy shift appears to be an enforcement of Trump’s executive order, which mandates federal agencies to only recognize sex assigned at birth. While she never updated her birth certificate, it had never affected her ability to obtain a passport listing her correct gender—until now.
“This is the first time this has happened to me since I changed my gender marker. We’re coming up on a decade now, or something. And I do believe it is a direct result of the administration our country is currently operating under,” Schafer said, adding that she is concerned about how these policies are slowly being implemented without many people realizing the full impact.
Navigating the Challenges of Travel as a Trans Person
While Schafer emphasized that the passport change does not affect her identity, she acknowledged that it will create practical difficulties, particularly when traveling internationally.
“I don’t give a f** that they put an M on my passport. It doesn’t change anything about me or my transness, however, it does make life a little harder,”* she said.
She anticipates that she will now be forced to out herself to border officials more frequently, a situation that can be uncomfortable, invasive, and even dangerous for trans individuals. Schafer also expressed concern for other trans people who may be facing similar issues, pointing out that the logistical hurdles, discrimination, and risks only increase as a result of policies like these.
“Trans People Are Here to Stay”
Despite her frustration, Schafer made it clear that she refuses to be erased.
“Trans people are beautiful. We are never going to stop existing, I am never going to stop being trans, a letter on a passport can’t change that,” she declared.
She concluded her message by condemning the administration responsible for the policy, stating, “F** this administration.”* While she admitted she doesn’t have an immediate solution, she felt it was critical to speak up and share her experience to make others aware of what is happening.
Balancing Advocacy and Career
Schafer has long been a vocal advocate for trans rights, but she has also spoken in the past about wanting to shift the focus away from her gender identity and onto her work. In a previous interview with GQ, she expressed frustration with how often her identity dominates conversations about her career.
“If I let it happen, it would still be ‘Transsexual Actress’ before every article ever. It took a while to learn that I don’t want to be [reduced to] that, and I find it ultimately demeaning to me and what I want to do,” she said at the time.
Despite her preference to not always be the face of trans representation, Schafer’s willingness to speak out on policies affecting the trans community underscores the ongoing challenges trans people face in navigating bureaucracy and public life.
Schafer is currently set to reprise her role as Jules in the highly anticipated third season of Euphoria, which is now in production.
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