­Judge upholds Kansas ban on transgender people changing sex listing on driver’s license

A state-court judge upheld her Monday order preventing transgender people in Kansas from changing the sex listed on their driver’s licenses, saying that a recent rush of such changes have created a public safety concern.

In a Zoom hearing Wednesday, the Department of Revenue failed to convince District Judge Teresa Watson that she should lift the ban she put in place Monday on changes to people’s listed sex on their licenses. The order expires July 24, but Watson is likely to hold another hearing to determine whether to extend the ban.

Nearly 200 transgender people in Kansas recently changed the sex listed on their license in anticipation of a new law, which took effect July 1 and rolled back some LGBTQ rights in the state. The new law does not mention driver’s licenses specifically, but it mandates that a person’s sex be defined as either male or female and that it be based on one’s “biological reproductive system” identified at birth. 

The month of June saw changes to the listed sex for 172 licenses — a third of all changes made in the past four years, when the practice was permitted. Watson cited this spike in changes as key evidence in her decision, saying, “the immediacy is supported by information” provided by the department.

“Licenses are used by law enforcement to identify criminal suspects, crime victims, wanted persons, missing persons and others,” she wrote. “Compliance with legal requirements for identifying license holders is a public safety concern.”

The order comes as part of a lawsuit filed by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R), who sued two officials in Gov. Laura Kelly’s (D) administration for what he argued were violations of the new law that went into effect July 1. Ahead of that date, Kelly’s administration had pledged it would continue allowing license changes at Kansas’s motor vehicles division, which is housed in the Department of Revenue. 

Kobach argued the practice violated the new law, which he viewed as prohibiting any new changes and reversing any previous ones made to people’s official sex listed on licenses. 

Attorneys at Kelly’s Department of Revenue made the case that the new law is in direct conflict with a previous law, which requires people to list their gender, not sex identified at birth, when applying for licenses. Ted Smith, a department attorney, reportedly told Watson that the agency is bound by the previous law that relates more specifically to driver’s licenses, rather than “the attorney general’s legal theory.”

In her decision Wednesday, Watson indicated the new law applies to state laws and regulation. Watson has yet to hear from transgender people about how the new law affects them. Five trans Kansas residents have asked to intervene in the lawsuit, but Watson reportedly has not yet ruled on that request. 

With the recent ban, Kansas became one of the few states not to allow trans individuals to change the sex listed on their driver’s licenses. Montana and Tennessee prohibit changes to driver’s licenses, while Oklahoma restricts changing birth certificates.