Detransitioned man stuck in “limbo” because Texas forbids driver’s license gender changes

A Texas man who detransitioned and tried to change his driver’s license to reflect his new identity was rebuffed by state officials, who acted on orders from the state’s right-wing Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Razavi, who asked to be identified by his last name only in an interview with Texas Monthly, said he decided to detransition when he realized that as a transgender woman he “would always be viewed as a second-class citizen.”

Related:

Donald Trump could nominate anti-LGBTQ+ zealot Ken Paxton as attorney general

Paxton is Texas’s attorney general and a committed Trump loyalist.

Now he’s battling the same discriminatory and transphobic forces that would discriminate against him as transgender woman as he tries to document his return to being a cisgender man.

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“I am a biological male,” Razavi said. “I’m 6’5″ with a beard and actual penis, but according to Ken Paxton, I am to remain legally a woman.” 

In March, Razavi obtained a court order in Travis County to change his license and made an appointment with the Department of Public Safety (DPS). Last week, he showed up to find DPS employees unwilling to make the name and gender change included in the court document.

What he didn’t know was three days earlier, Paxton’s office instructed DPS to no longer accept court orders as a basis for changing a person’s gender marker on their driver’s license.

“Effective immediately, August 20, 2024, the Department will not accept court orders or amended birth certificates issued that change the sex when it differs from documentation already on file,” the email from Paxton’s office stated. “For current DL/ID holders, the sex established at the time of original application and listed in the driver record will not be changed unless there was a clerical error.”  

DPS said in a statement that the agency implemented the new policy because the attorney general’s office questioned the “validity” of court orders issued to change the sex of individuals on government records. 

“I sat down, and the lady sat there for a very long time reading an email,” Razavi said. “And then, about 10 minutes later, she got back and she said, ‘Sir, I’m sorry, we can’t do this.’ ”

The rep went on to explain there was a new hold put on all sex marker changes. Razavi said he was stunned. Worse still, when Ravazi asked to speak with a supervisor, the woman collected his paperwork and started making copies.

“I was like, ‘Where’s she going? Why is she taking that?’” The representative told him, “‘It’s part of procedure.’ ”

Along with the order to stop gender changes, DPS employees were instructed to send the names and IDs of Texans seeking to legally change their sex markers to a designated email address, according to The Texas Tribune, fortifying an earlier policy from Paxton to compile a list of individuals who’d changed their sex on state documents. What Paxton plans to do with the information is unclear.

“Now I’m on this tiny little list of people Ken Paxton has an agenda against,” said Razavi, a Texas native. “It’s super scary.”  

“This is what Ken Paxton wants,” Ravazi added. “And I’m stuck in this limbo now.”

The inability to change gender markers on government-issued documents puts people at risk of discrimination, according to trans advocates. If a person’s gender marker on their driver’s license and passport doesn’t match their gender identity, it effectively outs a person as trans. This outing can lead to difficulty accessing various services as well as harassment and violence.

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