New Texas DPS policy blocks people from changing their gender on state ID cards

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Department of Public Safety is rolling out a new policy that will block transgender Texans from changing the sex on their driver’s licenses and state ID cards.

Equality Texas sent CBS Austin an internal email from DPS that instructs employees to deny these requests.

Ash Hall with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas says the Texas Department of Public Safety’s new policy isn’t just ignorant, but downright dangerous.

“It’s not at all transparent, it leaves the people out of the process, and I think it’s intentional,” Hall said. “That opens them up to discrimination, harassment, and even violence.”

A leaked email confirmed by KUT News and sent to CBS Austin by Equality Texas reveals a new policy in which Texans will no longer be able to change the sex on their licenses unless it’s to fix a clerical error. Similar policies have already been put in place in Florida, Kansas, and Montana.

“It’s really obvious that that directive is exclusionary, it is meant to render transgender people invisible,” Hall said.

Hall says even more frightening is the directive to record these requests and send them to a specific email address, which they say is reminiscent of a request Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made in 2022 to gather the same data from DPS.

“I become really anxious, in particular about the list,” Hall said. “For one thing, we have no idea what that list is being used for.”

Brad Pritchett is interim CEO of the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas. He says there are nearly 93,000 trans-Texans, and the importance of them having driver’s licenses can’t be overstated.

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“You need your ID to drive, you need that ID to vote in Texas,” Pritchett said. “You need it for any number of things.”

If gender markers on legal documents don’t match, Hall fears it could lead to confusion or even violence.

“That officer could accuse that trans woman of fraud, which is obviously not the case but that’s how it could look to an officer,” Hall said.

While groups like the Trans Legal Aid Clinic of Texas say it may be best to wait to turn any court order sex change documentation into Texas DPS, Pritchett still recommends going through the process to get it.

“It’s not a simple process to go through,” Pritchett said. “This is being done by people who are playing by the rules, who are following the law to make these changes.”

In a statement, the ACLU of Texas points out that state agencies can’t ignore court orders nor is DPS allowed to collect or share people’s personal information for political aim. While there are no legal challenges yet, Hall believes the policy is destined to fail.

“They are going around the people of Texas in order to intact these harmful, high-stakes policies simply because they have anti-trans animus,” Hall said.

In a statement, the Department of Public Safety says:

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has recently raised concerns regarding the validity of court orders being issued that purport to order state agencies—including DPS—to change the sex of individuals in government records, including driver’s licenses and birth certificates. Neither DPS nor other 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’s licenses.

Equality Texas says to visit their website to get connected with resources or legal advice.