TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas must stop allowing transgender people to change the sex listed on their driver’s licenses, a state-court judge ordered Monday as part of a lawsuit filed by the state’s Republican attorney general.
District Judge Teresa Watson’s order will remain in effect for up to two weeks, although she can extend it. But it’s significant because transgender people have been able to change their driver’s licenses in Kansas for at least four years, and almost 400 people have done it. For now, Kansas will be among only a few states that don’t allow any such changes.
The judge issued the order three days after Attorney General Kris Kobach sued two officials in Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration. Kelly announced last month that the state’s motor vehicles division would continue changing driver’s licenses for transgender people so that their sex listing matches their gender identities.
Kobach contends that a law, which took effect on July 1, prevents such changes and requires the state to reverse any previous changes in its records. It defines “male” and “female” so that Kansas law does not recognize the gender identities of transgender, non-binary or gender non-conforming people.
Watson wrote in her brief order that for the motor vehicles division to keep making changes for transgender people would case “immediate and irreparable injury.” Driver’s licenses remain valid for six years, and Watson noted Kobach’s argument that licenses “are difficult to take back or out of circulation once issued.”
“Licenses are used by law enforcement to identify criminal suspects, crime victims, wanted persons, missing persons and others,” Watson wrote. “Compliance with state legal requirements for identifying license holders is a public safety concern.”
Kelly’s office said it was working on a response to Watson’s order. Kelly won her first term as governor in 2018 by defeating Kobach, who was then the Kansas secretary of state. He in turn staged a political comeback last year by winning the attorney general’s race as she captured a second term — both of them by slim margins.
The governor’s office has said attorneys at the division of vehicles’ parent agency, the Kansas Department of Revenue, do not believe allowing transgender people to change their driver’s licenses violates the new law.
Four times as many people a month have changed their driver’s licenses this year than in previous years. Such changes accelerated in May and June as LGBTQ+ rights advocates encouraged people to do it ahead of the new law.
Taryn Jones, vice chair and lobbyist for the LGBTQ+ rights group Equality Kansas, acknowledged the concern that allowing the state to keep making changes would make it more difficult for law enforcement, but asked, “How many criminals are you having that are trans?” She said trans people will still be able to change their names to align with their gender identities.
Jones also said potential problems for law enforcement should be weighed against the harm to the mental health and safety of transgender people who don’t have licenses that match their gender identities.
“You know, it’s hard enough being trans right now in America, especially in a conservative place like Kansas,” she said.
