HOUSTON, Texas – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is cracking down on transgender rights.
“There are only two sexes, and that is determined not by feelings or ‘gender theory’ but by biology at conception,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Radical left-wing judges do not have jurisdiction to order agencies to violate the law nor do they have the authority to overrule reality. In Texas, we will follow common sense and restore any documents that were wrongfully changed to be consistent with biology.”
Recommended Videos
In an opinion issued on Friday, the attorney general made it clear that transgenders will not be allowed to change the sex on their driver’s license and birth certificates. He also said any court orders that are doing so are operating unlawfully.
Paxton added, “State district courts do not have the authority to direct government agencies to change the sex on government-issued identification documents such as driver’s licenses, birth certificates, and ID cards to something inconsistent with a person’s biology.”
The opinion explained: “Directing these agencies to change the contents of driver’s licenses and birth certificates suspends the longstanding statutory directive that both agencies oversee the fixed contents of these documents.… The face of these orders instead reveals that DPS and DSHS are directed to violate the very statutes they are bound to obey.”
Although attorney general opinions are not legally binding, they can be used in a court of law to argue a case. According to the attorney general’s website, the Office of the Attorney General has no authority to enforce opinions.
The opinion comes three days after Republican State Rep. Tom Oliverson introduced HB 3817, which would make it a crime for transgender people to identify as a gender different from their sex assigned at birth when dealing with government entities or employers.