AUSTIN, Texas — A recent policy update from the Texas Department of Public Safety now prevents transgender residents from changing the sex designation on their driver’s licenses. This change, which was announced publicly on Wednesday, indicates that staff members are instructed not to accept court orders or amended birth certificates for gender changes.

The memo from Driver License Division Chief Sheri Gipson, sent via email to employees on Tuesday, clarified that people who have already altered their gender designation on their driver’s licenses will not be impacted by this policy unless there was an error in the records.

Neither Gipson nor officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety responded to requests for comments from the American-Statesman, which is part of the YSL News Network, on Wednesday.

Previously, information on the DPS website outlined the steps required for individuals wishing to change the gender indicated on their driver’s license.

“To change your gender, you must present an original certified court order or an amended birth certificate confirming the change,” an archived version of the site stated. However, the section about “gender change” on the DPS website was no longer accessible on Wednesday.

“Texas has approximately 92,900 transgender adults,” reported Brad Pritchett, deputy director of Equality Texas, following KUT’s initial coverage of the policy. “Much like individuals who change their names after marriage want their correct name reflected on their license, transgender Texans want their driver’s license to accurately represent their gender.”

The ACLU of Texas criticized the policy shift, describing it as an “alarming attack” on the privacy, safety, and dignity of Texas’s transgender population.

“The Department of Public Safety has a duty, as its name suggests, to ensure the safety of all Texans. This new policy contradicts that mission,” said Ash Hall, ACLU of Texas’s policy and advocacy strategist for LGBTQIA+ rights. “State agencies must not disregard court orders, nor can the DPS collect or disseminate individuals’ private information for political objectives.”

Policy change subjects citizens to ‘involuntary surveillance’

The Texas State Law Library states that there is no specific law governing the process for changing one’s gender marker, leading to a “largely undefined” situation that is “confusing and uncertain.”

Typically, individuals seeking to change their gender marker must go through a county court, filing a petition that could be approved or rejected based on the county’s rules. The procedures can vary between counties and do not automatically ensure updates across all state documents, like a driver’s license, which must be handled separately as per the law library’s guidance.

“Some counties might deny these requests, while others accept them regardless of residency,” the law library’s resource page mentions. “Consulting with an attorney or legal aid might help clarify where and how to file.”

In the previous year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sought data on individuals requesting gender changes on state-issued documents, particularly driver’s license records for transgender Texans. Pritchett argued that there is no valid reason for the government to collect or retain such data, deeming the DPS’s actions as a detriment to the right and “dignity” associated with having an accurate identification.

“The DPS has now instituted a system to track every request for a gender marker change,” Pritchett stated. “Texans will face involuntary surveillance merely for trying to update a government-issued document.”

Recent attempts to prevent gender changes on official documents

Paxton has persistently opposed pro-LGBTQ+ measures at various levels of government, including a recent announcement where his office declared plans to contest a Biden administration ruling regarding gender protections for state and private employees. This followed his previous pledge to oppose new interpretations of Title IX that he claimed “favor ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity.'”

There was no response from Paxton’s office to an inquiry from the American-Statesman.

During the regular legislative session of 2023, state Republican Senator Charles Perry sponsored a bill aimed at prohibiting changes to the gender listed on birth certificates, which would complicate changes on other state identification documents. The bill passed in the Senate along party lines but did not progress in the House and ultimately expired at the end of the legislative session.

Other Republican-led states have previously enacted laws limiting the ability to change gender markers on driver’s licenses, including Arkansas, Kansas, Tennessee, Montana, and Florida.

In Oklahoma, a 2021 executive order from Governor Kevin Stitt, which forbade the Health Department from issuing non-binary or gender-neutral birth certificates, is currently being debated in federal appellate courts due to concerns that the ban may violate the First Amendment.