Texas AG Office sought list of Texans who changed their gender on their driver’s license

Palestine Herald-Press
Ali Linan CNHI Texas statehouse reporter
Dec 14, 2022 Updated 

AUSTIN — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office is seeking a list of Texans who changed their genders on their driver’s license, according to public records first reported Wednesday by The Washington Post.

This summer, employees of the Texas Department of Public Safety were tasked with compiling a list of individuals who have changed their gender on their licenses and on other department records over the last two years, the Post reported.

The task resulted in 16,000 such instances, but department employees said that even that list still needs to be cross referenced to ensure there was not a clerical error, reports said.

The news is seen by members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community as the latest attack on trans rights.

“We don't really see a clear reason why this information would be of value to the Attorney General and his office, but his history of animosity against our community, particularly the trans community, is clear,” said Ricardo Martinez, CEO of Equality Texas, the largest statewide organization that champions LGBTQ equality in Texas.

Paxton, a Republican, also made headlines earlier this year when he issued an opinion that deemed providing youth with gender-affirming care as child abuse.

The move led Gov. Greg Abbott, also a Republican, to direct the Department of Family Protective Services to begin investigating families that may be helping their children through the transitioning process.

Several lawsuits have since put a pause on that directive, protecting the families in the initial lawsuit and those that are members of PFLAG Texas, an organization dedicated to supporting members of the LGBTQ+ community and their families, friends and allies, but that has not stopped lawmakers from looking to solidify the opinion in state law this upcoming session.

House Bill 41, filed by state Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, directly targets physicians who provide transgender care, making it illegal to offer youth puberty blockers,which are used to halt the production of estrogen or testosterone. The medication is often used by transgender youth so that they do not experience the effect of puberty that may not align with their gender identification. The medical community consensus is that puberty blockers are safe and effective for trans youth.

HB 42, filed by state Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, would solidify the Paxton’s legal stance that providing such medications would equate to child abuse.

Additionally, House Bill 643, filed by state Rep. Jared Patterson, R- Frisco, looks to include businesses that have drag shows or performances as sexually oriented businesses.

A Plano Bar that hosted a drag show brunch threw Twitter in a tizzy after a video went viral showing children present at the event. Some Texans have since taken up the stance that drag queens and shows are indoctrinating children.

“I describe it as being under siege by your own state government. It's not only the legislature, it's not only the weaponization of state agencies, its elections, its people infiltrating our state spaces like pride, drag shows and school board meetings where we constantly have to hear our humanity debated,” Martinez said. “That is where I think the fear comes in because we don't know what the plans are in terms of using that or weaponizing that data in some way or violating our privacy once again.”

Paxton’s office did not respond to CNHI News' inquiry on the story.