Trans people in Texas blocked from changing gender marker on driving license
Trans folks in Texas can no longer change the gender markers on their driving licenses (Canva)
Trans people living in Texas will no longer be able to change the gender markers on their driving licence to align with their identity, unless it is to amend a clerical error.
Previously, under Department of Public Safety (DPS) rules, now only available in web archive form, transgender people in the Republican-controlled state could update their gender markers by supplying a copy of an amended birth certificate. Details of how to do this have now been removed from the DPS website.
Sheri Gipson, the chief of the state’s driver licence division, revealed the changes to Austin-based news station KUT News.
On Wednesday (21 August), a DPS spokesperson said: “The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has recently raised concerns regarding the validity of court orders being issued which purport to order state agencies to change the sex of individuals in government records, including driver licences and birth certificates.
“Neither DPS nor other government agencies are parties to the proceedings that result in the issuance of these court orders, and the lack of legislative authority and evidentiary standards for the courts to issue these orders has resulted in the need for a comprehensive legal review by DPS and the OAG.
“Therefore, DPS has stopped accepting these court orders as a basis to change sex identification in department records, including driver licences.”
Brad Pritchett, the interim chief executive of LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality Texas, responded by saying: “Just like people who change their names after marriage want their correct name on their licence, trans Texans want their driver’s licence to reflect their gender. We use our IDs to navigate all areas of life: driving, voting, employment. Having an ID that reflects who you are is a basic form of dignity that many take for granted.”
The move is thought to affect about 93,000 in the Lone Star state.
In a separate statement, Pritchett said the new policy “denies trans people the minimum respect of having a state ID that reflects their identity”, adding: “Now DPS has created a system to log every request for a gender marker change, Texans will be subject to involuntary surveillance for simply trying to update a government document.
“There is no clear reason why this information would be useful to the DPS nor is there a legitimate reason to deny gender marker updates on driver’s licences.”
Ash Hall, from the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said the situation is “not at all transparent” and “leaves the people out of the process. I think that’s intentional.”
He went on to say: “That opens [people] up to discrimination, harassment and even violence.”
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