Transgender people in the US state of Kansas woke up to discover that their driving licences and identity documents had become invalid overnight, with warnings that they could face penalties if they continued to use them.
On 23 February, the Kansas Department of Revenue’s Division of Vehicles sent letters to transgender individuals whose driving licences and identification cards had previously been amended to reflect their gender identity. The department informed them that these changes had been revoked.
This followed the publication of new state legislation on 26 February that “requires Kansas-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards to reflect the credential holder’s sex at birth.”
Officials told recipients that, as a result, “your current Kansas credential will no longer be valid,” noting that lawmakers did not include a grace period to allow those affected to update their credentials.
“This means that … your current credential will be invalid immediately, and you may be subject to additional penalties if you are operating a vehicle without a valid credential.”
The letters instructed recipients to immediately visit the Kansas Division of Vehicles to obtain a new licence reflecting the sex they were assigned at birth. It’s believed that 1,000 people have been affected by the new law.
Republican lawmakers pushed the legislation through the state legislature despite a veto from Kansas Governor Laura Kelly. In addition to altering transgender people’s identity documents, the law restricts their access to bathrooms and locker rooms in public buildings.
It also allows lawsuits to be filed by individuals who believe they have shared a bathroom with a transgender person, enabling claims for “damages” of at least $1,000.
“Instead of meeting the needs of their constituents, Kansas lawmakers have prioritised cruelty,” said Kelley Robinson, President of the Human Rights Campaign.
“Forcing people into the wrong bathrooms, stripping them of accurate IDs, and allowing government-sanctioned harassment doesn’t make anyone safer — it targets transgender Kansans for no reason and will undoubtedly impact many others who are targeted with animus whether or not they are transgender,” she added.
In a statement, Anthony Alvarez from rights group Loud Light Civic Action, shared that he was personally impacted: “As a trans Kansan, this law has deputised the people of our state to turn against one another and given them a financial incentive to do so. Every aspect of my public life will be subject to policing– from when I show my ID to vote or go to the bank to when I want to visit my friends in their dorm room or when I wash my hands before I eat.”
Fuelled by the Trump administration’s war on trans people, conservative lawmakers have introduced dozens of discriminatory bills across the US. More than 20 states now restrict transgender people’s access to bathrooms and other facilities. The US government’s official policy is to only recognise two sexes or genders, male and female, as registered at birth.
