Transgender people in Texas blocked from changing gender on state IDs

Transgender people in Texas can no longer change their gender on their state-issued IDs or driver’s licenses, officials confirmed Thursday.

The Texas Department of Public Safety has stopped accepting court orders for the purpose of changing gender markers on driver’s licenses, a department spokesperson said in an email to NBC News. 

The statement said the state’s attorney general’s office raised concerns “regarding the validity of court orders” that instruct Texas agencies, including DPS, to change “the sex of individuals in government records, including driver licenses and birth certificates.”

DPS in its statement said neither it, nor other state 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, as of Aug. 20, 2024, DPS has stopped accepting these court orders as a basis to change sex identification in department records — including driver licenses,” it said.

A person’s gender on their license or state ID will “reflect the sex listed on the primary document presented upon original application that is already on file,” NBC affiliate KXAN of Austin reported, citing an internal email it obtained.

The ACLU of Texas said that an internal email instructed DPS employees to report any attempts by transgender people to update the gender on their IDs.

In a statement, Ash Hall, ACLU of Texas’ policy and advocacy strategist for LGBTQIA+ rights, condemned the move, saying the DPS has a responsibility to keep all Texans safe, but that “this policy does the opposite.”

“Not having accurate driver’s licenses jeopardizes trans people’s health and safety — by potentially outing us and exposing us to discrimination, harassment, and violence,” Hall said. “This relentless targeting of transgender Texans is yet another alarming attack on our privacy, safety, and dignity. Trans people deserve to live free from persecution in Texas and everywhere else.”

Equality Texas, a group that works to “secure full equality for LGBTQIA+ Texans,” according to its bio on X, called the move “a blatant denial of trans Texans’ dignity and privacy.”

“Having an ID that reflects who you are is a basic form of dignity that many take for granted,” Equality Texas said on X.

Transgender Texans used to be able to change their gender on their IDs.

The Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT), a group that works on “advocating and educating on behalf of Trans and Gender Expansive Texans,” according to its X bio, put it simply in a post: “Hey Texas DPS: Trans people have the right to live without being demonized and disrupted.”

The group also pointed out that Texans will still be able to change their gender with the state through the court system.