You really want a different view of the US? Read travel information for us from other countries. During the Floyd riots, several were advising not to visit the states at all, along with the prevalence of gun violence. I can only imagine what they’re saying now.
It’s not really a travel warning. It’s an addition to the info about what’s needed to enter the US.
You now need a passport that specifies “male” or “female” as your gender.What if a country decided to completely remove the gender information from their passports? The US would then have to decide whether to ban everyone from that country or allow everyone?
yeah it seems like a pointless vestige now, why does it really matter what gender you are anyway?
It’s not about gender specifically. It’s always about control.
I would think the only reason for gender in a passport is to help identify, as like big guy with beard on the picture would have male. Which seems incomparable with the more modern gender identity concepts
I always figured passports had a universal “form” as my passport works in all countries I have been to. Is this not the case?
It’s interesting to read what our government has to say about traveling abroad. In this case this seems to be more of a misalignment of forms.
In Germany, people can choose between 3 genders (M/F/X), while the ESTA form only allows M and F, and forces people to use their gender assigned at birth [2]:
Aufgrund einer Executive Order vom 20. Januar 2025 müssen Einreisende in die USA in Zukunft bei ESTA- oder Visumanträgen entweder das Geschlecht „männlich“ oder „weiblich“ angeben; relevant ist hierbei der Geschlechtseintrag der antragstellenden Person zum Zeitpunkt der Geburt.
Due to an executive order dated January 20, 2025, travellers visiting the USA must use the ‘male’ or ‘female’ gender when filling out ESTA visa forms; use the person’s gender assigned at birth. (my translation)
Also:
Gun and munitions purchases have increased significantly recently. [1]
Is there an English source for the stuff about ESTAs and does this apply retroactively or only new ESTAs?
Also, how would they know?
The way I see it this applies to all ESTAs, not just new ones. But this is not explicitly mentioned. I guess some US gubernatorial site has more info in English.
Luckily so far we have found no info on any official site that it applies to ESTAs, this might just be the german government being overcautious, which isn’t bad but might currently be incorrect.
There is evidence it applies to VISAs but not ESTAs so far.
