Kansas Governor Laura Kelly’s plan to allow transgender residents to change their driver’s licenses to match their gender identities is now on hold.
District Judge Teresa Watson has issued a judicial order to halt that effort for at least two weeks, doing so just days after Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach filed suit against two officials in the Kelly administration. Kobach says Senate Bill 180, also known as the Women’s Bill of Rights, prevents transgender residents from changing official documents and also mandates the state to reverse any prior changes.
Governor Kelly contends attorneys for the Department of Revenue, the motor vehicle division’s parent department, feel the practice of allowing changes does not violate the new law. However, Watson says allowing the changes would lead to “immediate and irreparable injury,” adding that “compliance with state legal requirements for identifying license holders is a public safety concern.”
SB 180 defines a person’s sex as identified at birth for all state laws and regulations. It also means that people who identify as genders not assigned at birth have to use restrooms or locker rooms based on their birth status, not their identity status.
