Washington DC - A US appeals court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling that ordered the Trump administration to resume issuing passports to transgender or nonbinary Americans that align with their gender identity.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January that only two genders would now be recognized – male and female – ending official policies that recognized a third gender, denoted by an "X" on US passports.

District Judge Julia Kobick ordered the State Department in June to resume issuing "X" passports to transgender and nonbinary people affected by the policy change.

On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals denied a Trump administration bid to stay the district judge's order.

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"The government has failed to meet its burden to secure a stay," the justices said.

They noted the lower court's finding that persons affected by the change "will suffer a variety of immediate and irreparable harms from the present enforcement of the challenged policy."

The State Department first issued such passports in October 2021 under President Joe Biden, with the "X" gender marker reserved for nonbinary, intersex, and gender non-conforming individuals.

Trump, in an executive order signed in January, said that "it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female."

In line with the order, passports issued by the State Department were required to state the biological sex – "M" or "F" -- of their holder at birth.