AUSTIN, Texas – Making a change to the field that provides a person’s gender on a Texas driver’s license or identification card will no longer be possible with a court order or amended birth certificate, according to an internal email obtained by KPRC 2 News.
The email, that was sent at 12:41 p.m. on Aug. 20, let staff at the DPS driver’s license division know that the new policy will be “effective immediately.”
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The email goes on to say, “The department will not accept court orders or amended birth certificates issued that change the sex when it differs from documentation already on file. The validity of such documents is currently under review by Office of the Director to ensure that all state and federal guidelines are being met. For current DL/ID holders, the sex established at the time of original application and listed in the driver record will not be changed unless there was a clerical error. The sex will reflect the sex listed on the primary document presented upon original application that is already on file. This does not mean we will deny the issuance of or renewal of the DL/ID. The issuance can proceed with documentation on file, and this decision will be left up to the customer.”
Along with the new policy, the email contains a rather curious set of instructions towards the end. It asks that employees scan and report sex change documentation to a particular DPS email address, even though it cannot be used to change a driver’s license or ID under the new policy. It also tells employees that the content of the email should not be shared with customers.
Several groups fighting against discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual orientation have been vocal about how the change targets transgender Texans.
Equality Texas posted this response to the new policy:
The Texas branch of the American Civil Liberties Union also expressed disapproval towards the policy.
KPRC 2 has reached out to DPS and specifically the author of the email about the new policy and the scan and report instructions. Texas DPS released the following statement:
“The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has recently raised concerns regarding the validity of court orders being issued which purport to order state agencies—including DPS—to change the sex of individuals in government records, including driver 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 licenses.”