Kansas must stop changing transgender drivers’ sex listing on licenses: Judge

A state court on Monday ordered
Kansas
to stop permitting
transgender
people to alter the listing for their sex on their
driver’s licenses
.

District Judge Teresa Watson issued the order ahead of the first hearing in a lawsuit filed by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican. The suit names two officials in Gov.
Laura Kelly
‘s (D-KS) administration over her decision to allow the state’s motor vehicles division to change driver’s licenses for transgender people so that the sex listing matches their gender identities.

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The
order
will stay in effect for up to two weeks, though Watson is permitted to extend it. Notably, the order goes against nearly four years of precedent in the state where people have been allowed to change their driver’s licenses, as nearly 400 people have done so.

But Kobach argues that a state law passed on July 1,
known as Senate Bill 180
, prevents such changes to driver’s licenses and that the state should reverse any previous changes to its records in accordance with the new law.

The new law defines a person’s sex as male or female that is based on the “biological reproductive system” identified at birth. It also says that “important governmental objectives” of protecting people’s health, privacy, and safety justify single-sex locations such as bathrooms and locker rooms. S.B. 180 also doubles as a public bathroom bill that prevents transgender people from using public restrooms that correspond with their preferred genders, requiring that they use such facilities with their sex assigned at birth.

Under Kansas law
, a state court may issue a temporary restraining order without giving prior notice to the other party if the facts “clearly show that immediate and irreparable injury, loss or damage will result to the movant before the adverse party can be heard in opposition.”

While it is effectively unenforceable, Kansas joins at least 10 other states that have laws disallowing transgender people from using facilities in line with their gender identities.

Separately, a federal appeals court on Saturday
moved in favor
of a law in Tennessee that seeks to block doctors from giving medical care such as puberty blockers or transgender surgery for minors.

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Federal courts have blocked five laws similar to Tennessee’s from taking effect. Those judges found the laws violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.

The Washington Examiner contacted representatives for Kobach and Kelly for comment.