Trans Texans Denounce ID Bill, Saying Disenfranchisement is its Intent
A measure pending in the state Senate seeks to enshrine “exclusion, discrimination” into law.
by Denny
Trans Texans say broad disenfranchisement is the intention and raw animus the driving force behind a pending bill from Republican state lawmakers that would enshrine into law a state policy barring trans people from amending the gender on their birth certificates.
“Proponents of legislation like this are aiming to mandate cruelty through bureaucratic systems, putting trans people in danger and making it harder to exist in Texas,” said Landon Richie, policy coordinator for the Transgender Education Network of Texas and one of several witnesses who denounced the measure at a hearing this week.
“We're seeing bills like this across the country making it harder to exist in this nation, because it's primarily about exclusion, discrimination, and wanting to make trans people’s lives unlivable,” he said.
The measure, Senate Bill 406, says that birth certificates “must include a space for recording the biological sex of a person as either male or female.” It further demands that birth certificates record gender “as determined by the sex organs, chromosomes, or endogenous profile of the child.”
One of its sponsors, Republican Senator Bob Hall, said the bill would have wide implications for other forms of legal identification, from fishing licenses to driver’s licenses, which would effectively leave many trans Texans in a legal limbo.
In an interview with Assigned Media, Richie said measures like SB 406 have a broader aim: to disenfranchise trans people at large.
“For folks who are afforded the privilege of being able to navigate life without having to think about what their identity documents say, pinpointing these issues may not come easily,” Richie said in his testimony before a Senate committee hearing the bill. But all individuals, he pointed out, depend on the fair and unpoliticized application of reliable government documents.
Autumn Launer, another trans Texan who testified at Monday’s hearing, called the bill “a solution in search of a problem.”
“A mismatched birth certificate creates confusion,” Launer continued, providing research showing that properly updated forms of identification lead to better mental health outcomes. "SB 406 traps people in instability.”
Restrictive, Republican-backed ID laws adopted in other states are already disenfranchising voters – not only trans people but the multitude of women whose surnames do not match birth certificates or other documents. At least two would-be voters were turned away in Derry, N.H., this week because their documents were deemed mismatching or insufficient, New Hampshire Public Radio reported. Neither were trans.
Malicious and discriminatory document measures are a major tactic in the radical right’s effort to impose anti-trans bigotry nationwide. Already this year, a record-breaking 738 anti-trans bills have been introduced in state legislatures nationwide, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker, which monitors the measures.
Texas is a leader in this campaign of bigotry, with 104 anti-trans bills having been introduced so far. The ID bill’s co-sponsor, Republican Senator Mayes Middleton, invoked directives from President Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott defining gender as “two sexes” as the basis for the measure.
On the surface, though, the ID bill is duplicative since state policy already bars gender changes on birth certificates
“It wasn't clear why they thought this was necessary and what they thought this would accomplish,” Richie said. “The author of the bill was speaking as though it is still possible for people to update gender markers on birth certificates with a court order, which since last August is not an option for people.”
Meghan Fairbanks, founder of the Trans & GenderQueer Houston, who also testified Monday, said the ID bill takes lawmakers’ focus away from real-life issues like public health and education that affect all Texans.
“There are politicians out there who feel like they have to find a group of people to blame things on — who rely on having a distraction,” Fairbanks told Assigned Media, explaining why trans people have taken the brunt of such politics.
“It seems like every other day I'm hearing another story about somebody moving away from the state, and we shouldn't be chasing people out of their homes over something stupid like this,” said Fairbanks, whose group supports trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people
Fairbanks said she and other trans people are ready to fight for their community. “This is my home, and I don't really want to leave it.”
“I’m still me. I know who I am. I’m still Meghan. I’m still a woman. I don’t care what a document says; I know who I am, and nothing’s going to change that.”