Sanford Nowlin
An individual walks into a DPS drivers license office in South San Antonio.
Transgender Texans will no longer be able to change the gender listed on their driver’s licenses, according to an email a top Department of Public Safety official sent to employees on Tuesday.
Under the new policy, drivers-license holders are barred from changing the sex on their current IDs unless they request the alteration due to a clerical error, Sheri Gipson, head of DPS’s Driver License Division, said in a copy of the email obtained by the Current. The rule update became effective Tuesday.
What’s more, Gipson’s email instructs employees to digitally scan the records that customers present when requesting a sex-designation change on their ID and email it an internal DPS account at [email protected]. Workers were also instructed to include the person’s name and license number.
“This email address is for internal reporting only and should not be shared with customers,” she said in the message.
As of press time, neither Gipson nor DPS’s press office responded to the Current‘s phone calls seeking more information on the ban.
However, LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality Texas said the policy change amounts to a degrading slap in the face to the state’s 92,000 transgender residents.
“This new policy from DPS denies trans people the minimum respect of having a state ID that reflects their identity,” Equality Texas Interim CEOBrad Pritchett said in an emailed statement. “Last year the Texas Attorney General tried to collect driver’s license data from trans Texans, now DPS has created a system to log every request for a gender marker change.”
DPS’s requirement that workers send information on the change requests to a special email account also subjects Texans “to involuntary surveillance for simply trying to update a government document,” Pritchett added.
Texas’ ban comes as other Republican-controlled states have taken steps to make it harder for trans people to obtain official documents that match their gender identity. In January, Florida adopted a ban on trans people changing the sex listed on their licenses, and this spring, a Kansas judge upheld a similar order from public safety officials in that state.
Further, the new rule arrives as Texas Republicans including Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General step up efforts to marginalize trans people.
Abbott last year signed a law banning doctors from prescribing gender-affirming care to trans minors — one of dozens of laws filed in the Texas Legislature last session seeking to limit the rights of LGBTQ+ people. Last week, Paxton filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn new federal protections for trans workers.
“Just like people who change their names after marriage want their correct name on their license, trans Texans want their driver’s license to reflect their gender,” Equality Texas’ Pritchett said. “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.”
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