Changes are being proposed to multiple federal data collections “to comply with E.O. 14168, ‘Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.’” The changes are essentially to limit data collection on gender to a binary “sex” item. There are four examples listed here; if you know of others, please send information to the DCSS Gmail address. See suggestions about commenting below.

Application for a [new] U.S. Passport (March 17)

U.S. Passport Renewal Application for Eligible Individuals (March 20)

Correction, Name Change to Passport Issued 1 Year Ago or Less, and Limited Passport Replacement (March 20)

Changes to the 2026-2027 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) (April 7) [Docket No.: ED-2025-SCC-0011] Note: The actual changes proposed are available as supplementary materials; check out the “data elements” or the “summary of enhancements”.

Some suggestions on commenting (admittedly without an authoritative citation):

• DO state your concerns with the form changes clearly, professionally, and without panic or hyperbole.
• DO back them up with either personal stories/experiences or media articles. Links are fine but you can also attach a PDF of the media articles to your comment, which makes the article part of the regulatory record.
• DON’T copy and paste someone else’s comment and just change one or two things; it will be treated as the same comment.
• DON’T submit any information within the comment itself that you don’t want to be searchable (e.g., full legal name and work e-mail address) Comments are open to the public.
• DO consider reaching out to your senators/representatives and ask them to submit a comment as well. Maybe send them a copy of your comment for reference.
• DO submit comments even though the change is likely to occur, because it can help litigators. There is an Administrative Procedures Act (APA), and these comments and the government’s (non) response may provide a basis for a case under the APA.