In the same week that gender was ruled "changeable" in Australia, halfway around the world, Texans were blocked from changing the sex listed on their driver's licenses. An internal memo issued Tuesday by the Texas Department of Public Safety says, in effect, that transgender people cannot change the sex listed on state-issued IDs to reflect their gender identity. DPS will "not accept court orders or amended birth certificates issued that change the sex when it differs from documentation already on file," except in cases of clerical error, the memo reads, per the Washington Post. As for those applying for a driver's license for the first time, "the sex listed on the original birth certificate will take precedence."
Instructions on how to change one's sex with an original certified court order or amended birth certificate have now vanished from the DPS website, per the Austin American-Statesman. DPS said it undertook "a comprehensive legal review" of court orders authorizing changes to sex on state IDs after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton questioned their "validity," per the Post. The department found Texas courts lacked "legislative authority and evidentiary standards" to issue the orders, according to a statement.
It's unclear why the department believes it can override the authority of state courts, says Brad Pritchett, interim CEO of LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas, who argues "Texans will now be subject to involuntary surveillance for simply trying to update a government document." That's an allusion to DPS' new policy of forwarding all sex change documentation to a special email address, reports KUT. It's not clear why DPS would be interested in the information, but Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who's been fighting to limit trans rights for years, previously asked for data on transgender Texans who requested changes on their licenses and was told no such data existed, the Post reports. (More Texas stories.)
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