Secretary of state tells staff ‘sex is not changeable’ in email following Trump executive order on gender

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The US state department has frozen all applications for passports with “X” sex markers and changes to gender identity on existing passports, following a new executive order signed by Donald Trump on his first day of office.

In an internal cable obtained by the Guardian, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, instructed department staff on Thursday to implement the strict new guidelines for official documentation.