An official with the Texas Department of Public Safety told the Washington Post that the Attorney General's office requested the department to create a list of people who are not male or female. The total number of Texans who had changed the gender on their driver's licenses or other government records within the past two years was requested by the office of the Texas Attorney General.
The chief of the driver's license division at the Department of Public Safety needs a total number of changes from male to female and female to male for the last two years. According to the emails shared with the Post, Paxton's office asked for this information. There are some communications that are titled "AG Request Sex Change Data"
You can read more.
The office of Paxton denies making a request of the Department of Public Safety. At the state Department of Family and Protective Services, employees worked on gender-affirming care.
Branstetter was never interested in giving Ken Paxton the benefit of the doubt, and the fact that he has now repeatedly attempted to cover his tracks when taking grave, traumatic steps to persecute trans people suggests any good intentions he claims to have are lies and cover-ups. Multiple requests for comment have not been answered.
The Texas Department of Public Safety put together a list of over 16,000 requests for gender changes on licenses. Some Texans requested to change the gender on their license because they were trans, but other Texans requested the change because of an error on their license. The data requested by the AG's office was not available. No data of any kind was provided by the Department of Public Safety.
It is a relief that this data was not shared with the office of Paxton, who is ramping up his efforts to surveil and frighten trans Texans. Legislation was signed by the governor last year prohibiting trans youth from participating in sports. The governor ordered the state to investigate families with trans kids and health providers who provide gender-affirming care to young people for child abuse. The family of a trans teen tried to kill themselves while an investigation was underway.
According to the Post, Texas is following in the footsteps of other anti-trans state governments and is targeting trans adults who have driver's licenses. Anti-trans lawmakers used to say they were worried that kids were too young to know they were trans. Legislators in Oklahoma introduced a bill to ban gender-affirming care for adults. More than half of the states have tried to restrict gender-affirming health care.
Branstetter said that it was chilling to think that the office of the governor might have done something to the trans residents in the state. She said that it was hard to believe that any attorney general would seek this information.
One trans woman told the Post that she doesn't want to know about her gender. I don't want a cop to pull me over. I changed my marker very quickly.
Lawmakers in Texas introduced a bill last month that would classify gender-affirming care as child abuse. Branstetter said that trying to build a list of a marginalized group, which is often portrayed by elected officials in Texas as a danger to you and your family, is dark. It raises really alarming questions about the depth of their cause and their disregard for the rights of trans people.
There is more from the site.
If you sign up, you'll get the newsletter. The latest news can be found on social media.
The full article can be found here.
Austin American-Statesman
All Rights Reserved © 2024
