Texas officials have quietly put into effect a policy that prohibits transgender individuals from modifying their gender marker on driver’s licenses.
According to a recent report by Austin’s NPR affiliate, The Texas Newsroom, a new rule has been implemented in Texas that affects individuals who have updated their birth certificates. The rule states that even with the updated documents or a court order, these individuals may still face certain restrictions. Interestingly, this policy was not publicly announced but was instead communicated to state employees via an email from Sheri Gipson, the chief of Texas’ Driver License Division.
The Department has recently announced a new policy regarding the acceptance of court orders or amended birth certificates that change the sex listed on driver’s licenses or identification cards. According to the message, starting from August 20, 2024, the Department will no longer accept such documents if they differ from the sex already on file. This means that for individuals who currently hold a valid DL/ID, the sex listed on their driver record will not be changed unless there was a clerical error.
Gipson made it clear to the workers that they should not share the message with customers. He emphasized, “This email address is for internal reporting only and should not be shared with customers.”
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) used to have a policy on its website regarding gender change. According to this policy, residents in the state could update their gender marker by obtaining a court order or an updated birth certificate. However, it appears that this policy is no longer accessible on the state’s website, as reported by Huffpost.
Two years ago, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the DPS to provide data on the number of people in the state who had changed the gender marker on their licenses. However, the DPS was unable to fulfill this request as they discovered over 16,000 instances of legal gender changes that would require manual review to understand the reasons behind each change. As a result, the department was unable to provide the requested information.
“The Department of Public Safety is mandated to ensure the safety of all Texans, as its name suggests. However, this policy contradicts that responsibility,” expressed Ash Hall, a policy and advocacy strategist for LGBTQIA+ rights at the ACLU of Texas. Hall further emphasized, “By not providing accurate driver’s licenses, the well-being and safety of transgender individuals are compromised, as it may inadvertently disclose their gender identity and subject them to discrimination, harassment, and violence.”
“State agencies must not disregard court orders, and DPS is prohibited from collecting or disclosing individuals’ personal information for political purposes,” Hall emphasized. “This relentless discrimination against transgender individuals in Texas is a distressing assault on our right to privacy, safety, and respect. Transgender people deserve to live without fear of persecution in Texas and all other places.”
