Hunter Schafer Stands up for the Trans Community in Recent TikTok

Hunter Schafer opened up in a recent TikTok about receiving her renewed passport which wrongly annotated her gender as male, as per her gender assigned at birth. Schafer so bravely uses her platform to champion the trans community by calling out this change and saying it’s important to draw attention to the changes happening around us. Believing this to be a result of the new administration’s order declaring that individuals will solely be recognized by their birth sex, Schaffer sought the opportunity to call out this erroneous representation of her identity. In doing so, Schaffer is standing up for the trans community and the LGBTQ+ community as a whole, that is all so often told they are something they’re not. She is not going to simply let it slide and be misgendered on a form of identification that encompasses the basic description of one’s identity and is – quite literally, a representation of one’s identification.

Schafer, who emerged as an actress on Euphoria and more recently branched out as an actress in the 2024 Horror film, Cuckoo, has been a public figure for quite some time and a beacon of courage and resilience within the LGBTQ+ community. It was very brave of her to share this video on her TikTok. The invalidation Schafer and others in the trans community will face as a result of this new pointless push is such an upset for our nation where there had formerly been so much momentum in trans rights. Rather than receiving an ‘X’ symbol in the gender marker field, the new order stated passport holders will now only see a marker indicating M or F.

I’m never going to stop being trans – and a letter in a passport can’t change that

– Hunter Schafer

It’s such a hurtful mentality to not validate one’s very form of existence via the issuance of their passport; a document that is meant to be extremely personal anyway. Beyond that, these kinds of circumstances unfairly force trans people to out themselves to customs, border patrol, and at every port of entry. A passport is a form of documentation meant for that person and security purposes and identity affirmation, not for others to see beyond customs, TSA, employers, and other security checks. So why would anyone but the passport holder themselves need to declare or adapt their gender?

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posted/deleted this last night because i wanted to make a more concise/well spoken thing but it’s out in the world! so putting it back heree

♬ original sound – Hunter Schafer

Self-identity is not merely an expression and recognition of oneself, but a human right to grasp and comprehend. It is up to only one individual what gender someone is, not the rest of the world or a governing body. Schafer’s remarks circling this fallacy are an important form of accountability the U.S. can benefit from.

In her TikTok, Schafer also comments that if this can happen to her, it can happen to anyone no matter their economic status, looks, or race. She illustrates that her wish is not to fearmonger but to share from the heart and shed light on the fact that this is happening and affirm for her peers that a letter does not represent who they are. She also states that there will always be trans people which is inspiring at a moment when the trans rights movement appears to be reaching a hiatus. Through emitting hope and light in her TikTok and on the red carpet at the Independent Spirit Awards on February 22, Schafer affirms to others that they are not alone and that this does not define them.