The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles announced in a letter that drivers license gender changes are no longer available, and trans people could be charged with fraud.
I remember going with my trans daughter to the Ohio BMV to get the gender marker on her driver’s license changed when she first began to transition - even before she legally changed her name. The BMV employee was so kind and helpful as she processed all the paperwork. It was truly one of the first affirming experiences my daughter had after she came out. That was in 2019 - before the current onslaught of anti-trans attacks. I am so saddened that the world has become so incredibly hostile towards trans folx in just 5 short years. It is unconscionable. 😢
All of this anti-trans hatred is being perpetrated by groups of the extreme Christian far-right. This is what happens when you have too many people that lack independent thinking and get brainwashed to the point they just blindly follow. The most prominent religious group that is actively spreading this throughout the world is Family Watch International. They've been implicated with teaching high-level politicians in Africa how to campaign against sex education and LGBTQ rights and helping countries like Uganda, Kenya and a host of others formulate anti-LGBTQ laws. Greg and Sharon Slater are co-founders of this group but only Sharon's name is listed because Greg is a high ranking executive and Attorney for the President at Intel Corporation.
Also, I have a trans son in Uganda and they're not playing out there. They will jail, rape, or kill him if they find him. I keep trying to get him to leave that place and go to a neighboring country that doesn't have those clowns governing over them.
I agree, they are not Christians true to the word. However, they are using the Bible to manipulate the Christian people into believing this is what is what it says and unfortunately, a lot of these people will blindly follow and never question. What they are actually doing is turning the masses against us.
That is very helpful information. Thrr er only problem is, who can you tell that to and expect them to do anything about it? There isn’t anyone in the GLBTQ+ community that is organized enough to start anti-lobbying against these people, nor are there any legislators interested in it when it only effects a small portion of those who might vote for them. So they all brush it off.
Same IN FLORIDA. This is what is so fucked up about all of this. Everyone we have encountered in the government has been kind and helpful, or at the very least unbiased. Florida is a very purple state. There are a LOT of people here who do not agree with these bigoted hateful laws and changes. Our suburban high school had the first trans homecoming queen in the state 2 years ago. And yet...It only takes a sliver of a majority for all of this nonsense to persist. My son already has his gender marker changed on his ID. Now what??? This is insanity.
If they are serious about "fraud" for transgender people who have updated their gender marker on a driver's licence, how are they going to deal with people who are visiting Florida and have a driver's licence from another state? That will ultimately be settled in a federal court under the full faith and credit clause of the constitution.
Secondly, what about someone using a US passport as ID in lieu of a driver's licence? Obviously not to drive, but they could use that for bathrooms. That's the supremacy clause, again to be settled in the federal courts.
And finally, Florida is a massive international tourist destination, including many trans tourists. Those tourists will have driver's licences and IDLs and passports, issued by their home countries' governments. Florida has a lot more discretion on what to accept or reject on foreign documents than American ones. This seems like an important warning to issue to trans tourists: Florida could stop and arrest people at the airports for being trans and using a passport with an updated gender marker under this basis.
Thank you for bringing this up. My spouse and I are planning a trip to Florida this Spring to visit family, what effect will this have on me? My current drivers license has my new name and gender designation, do I now not only have to worry about stupid bathroom laws, but also if I happen to be pulled over for a brake light out or some other Trumped up excuse?
What is more worrisome is that other states are looking at Florida and Texas as examples for their own anti-LGBTQ legislation. Whatever sticks here can potentially be applied in other states as well.
UGH... This is straight up handmaid's tale kind of shit. Florida is not safe for any LGTBQ+ person or persons with a uterus. Its a race to the bottom with these ghouls.
Agreed, sadly all of that will take time, years probably, of court cases and winding it's way to the Supreme Court to hopefully be struck down in line with other recent SC rulings on gender.
Meanwhile, the damage will be done to our mental health because they'll harass endlessly and put us in jail until we can afford an attorney to get us out of there. Watch!
This has me very nervous about visiting my family in Florida. The logic of applying 322.212 f.s. to consider changing gender markers to be fraud seemingly might apply to out of state licenses:
“The term “driver license” includes a driver license issued by the department or its agents or a driver license issued by any state or jurisdiction that issues licenses recognized in this state for the operation of a motor vehicle.
(5)(a) It is unlawful for any person to use a false or fictitious name in any application for a driver license or identification card or knowingly to make a false statement, knowingly conceal a material fact, or otherwise commit a fraud in any such application.”
I mean, it’s utter bullshit either way, but the statute they’re trying to apply seems to be written agnostically to whether it’s an in state or out of state license.
This is cruel fascism. Also, it seems unconstitutional (at a minimum, a violation of the due protection clause). So why isn’t the federal gov’t/DOJ getting involved?
What happens for an out-of-state trans driver with a valid license from another state, who visits Florida and gets pulled over? Are they at risk?
We don’t list our height on drivers licenses as 20 inches, which was the situation at birth. We update them based on current status. The same should be always be true for sex/gender, especially in the situation of transition or medical treatment.
This is all unconstitutional until someone like our orange friend gets into office and tears up the constitution on day one. That's what he's talking about when he says that he will only be a dictator on the first day. His belief is that as soon as he invalidates the constitution, he will no longer consider himself a dictator but a rightful ruler.
Yes, I love how the declaration claims that identifying us as the gender that we OBVIOUSLY are now instead of the one we looked like when we were born makes the driver's license worse as a form of identifying us.
Hmmmm this sounds like a great opportunity for the fed government to revoke Florida's RealID privileges. RealID standards specifically require gender, not sex, so Florida would be intentionally taking itself out of compliance with this policy.
Okay, who will send this to the feds? Who has the courage? I can't, in all honesty, put my neck on the chopping-block with no current backup. I'm already way out there as it is and the government knows my name as a Black transman.
Driving while Trans. So, if you get pulled over and you don't pass, you will go to jail where you will be degraded, tortured, and possibly raped. I wonder how many cis women they'll pick up because the cops think they don't pass?
Given Florida's voter ID laws, I'm concerned this will also be used to disenfranchise trans voters there. While voters without an ID can be issued a provisional ballot at the polls, trans voters will likely face harassment or may be even turned away by ignorant poll workers, will be forced to deadname themselves on the previous name field of the provisional ballot, and it will be up to local election boards to determine if their votes will even count at all.
Also of concern is how Florida's legal definitions surrounding gender may be applied or expanded in future to endanger trans Floridians who possess and present a US Passport as their voter ID.
This is just the very tip of the iceberg. If nonsense like this ever makes it to the federal level they will be doing this same exact thing with passports.
In a future GOP administration, this would be almost guaranteed to happen. In fact, coming for passports would be among their first and earliest priorities. Right-wing hate groups would push for it too. They are probably behind a lot of what’s happening in Florida.
That's a big part of why I keep screaming for people to get out no matter what before Inauguration Day. Once passports are revoked, there's no way to get out of the place that's preparing to round us all up into prison at best barring on foot or theoretically swimming.
They are going to ram these things through as quickly as possible state-by-state, folks. When it reaches the federal level, all these states will be so empowered, they will succumb to these scums. I don't yet know how we can stop this. The T in Nazi Germany couldn't stop them and got run out of the country, imprisoned or killed. This is older than Project 2025 and The Heritage Foundation out of the 1970's (with a different name?).
Anyway, WHAT, WHAT, WHAAAAAAAAT??? This is so insane. If we stop toting that foundation and start calling this what it is, perhaps people will get hot here. Playbook out of Nazi Germany is what this is.
This is how this legislation is passed, quietly and behind the scenes. It almost never makes the daily news, and if it does, it may be a quick 20 second blurb used as filler. The only outlets that consistently broadcast any of this are people like Erin and LGBTQ+ targeted sources, which in all honesty, 90% of CIS people do not pay attention to, most go out of their way to avoid such topics.
There's no imprisoned or killed. Every last trans person imprisoned in Germany at that time was killed in the holocaust. There were zero survivors apart from those who successfully fled the country. (I've never seen any names of trans people who successfully fled Germany post-1933, so it might also be that just plain zero trans people survived period.)
Did you watch that documentary, Nadia? That's not what they say in there and it's a true story. Besides, here they will use civilians to do the murders that happen every year all year. Mostly Black transgender women. Uh huh.
I'm beginning to think someone in leadership in Florida is secretly trans--they are going after trans people with a level of obsession bordering on fascination. This legislation is such a violation of liberty, dignity, personal autonomy, etc. Can you imagine the riots if there were police officers outside the bathroom patting people down for concealed weapons down there? Yet somehow at a traffic stop or on your way into the mens/ladies' room, some local constable is going to feel authorized to make sure your outward appearance, the gender marker on your driver's license, and your biological/chromosomal makeup all match? How are they going to do that? On site? Screw that. That is totally messed up, unconstitutional, unmanageable, and unkind.
NAZI playbook is more alarming to people who don't know what either of those places are. Everybody knows about the Holocaust, which is better for "messaging". God knows liberals or progressive have a huge messaging problem in this country. Let's not introduce new things and reintroduce very old things that everybody knows. They may not know what happened to transgender people during WWII, but what will they look up faster? If they hear the Holocaust OR CPAC and Heritage playbook? Me thinks the former is what they'll be quicker to look up and try to empathize or sympathize. Use THEIR playbook of messaging against them.
That is correct, but many people won't know that until they go looking for it. Then they might see the documentary name I saw and watched. I was alarmed out of my boots, I tell you! That was only a month ago or two.
I remember going with my trans daughter to the Ohio BMV to get the gender marker on her driver’s license changed when she first began to transition - even before she legally changed her name. The BMV employee was so kind and helpful as she processed all the paperwork. It was truly one of the first affirming experiences my daughter had after she came out. That was in 2019 - before the current onslaught of anti-trans attacks. I am so saddened that the world has become so incredibly hostile towards trans folx in just 5 short years. It is unconscionable. 😢
All of this anti-trans hatred is being perpetrated by groups of the extreme Christian far-right. This is what happens when you have too many people that lack independent thinking and get brainwashed to the point they just blindly follow. The most prominent religious group that is actively spreading this throughout the world is Family Watch International. They've been implicated with teaching high-level politicians in Africa how to campaign against sex education and LGBTQ rights and helping countries like Uganda, Kenya and a host of others formulate anti-LGBTQ laws. Greg and Sharon Slater are co-founders of this group but only Sharon's name is listed because Greg is a high ranking executive and Attorney for the President at Intel Corporation.
Also, I have a trans son in Uganda and they're not playing out there. They will jail, rape, or kill him if they find him. I keep trying to get him to leave that place and go to a neighboring country that doesn't have those clowns governing over them.
They are not Christians as far as I'm concerned. No true Christian can be this cruel.
I agree, they are not Christians true to the word. However, they are using the Bible to manipulate the Christian people into believing this is what is what it says and unfortunately, a lot of these people will blindly follow and never question. What they are actually doing is turning the masses against us.
Yes, I know. I'm just rebuking any claims they have on Christianity OUT LOUD! Forget that bullshit.
Cruelty is the point!
No shit, Lisa! We would've never guessed. LOL
Reminds me of the Evangelicals of the 1970's. One in particular, I couldn't stand. Anita Bryant. What an evil witch.
Anita Bryant was horrendous
That is very helpful information. Thrr er only problem is, who can you tell that to and expect them to do anything about it? There isn’t anyone in the GLBTQ+ community that is organized enough to start anti-lobbying against these people, nor are there any legislators interested in it when it only effects a small portion of those who might vote for them. So they all brush it off.
Same IN FLORIDA. This is what is so fucked up about all of this. Everyone we have encountered in the government has been kind and helpful, or at the very least unbiased. Florida is a very purple state. There are a LOT of people here who do not agree with these bigoted hateful laws and changes. Our suburban high school had the first trans homecoming queen in the state 2 years ago. And yet...It only takes a sliver of a majority for all of this nonsense to persist. My son already has his gender marker changed on his ID. Now what??? This is insanity.
We had a decent experience as well in Ohio, but closer to 10 years ago. My how quickly things change.
I was going to get my birth certificate from Ohio updated, glad I waited.
I am a cisgender straight white woman who is really paying attention in Florida and this was NO WHERE in our news coverage. No where. I am furious.
That's why you subscribe here.
I do expect this will make the news today.
If they are serious about "fraud" for transgender people who have updated their gender marker on a driver's licence, how are they going to deal with people who are visiting Florida and have a driver's licence from another state? That will ultimately be settled in a federal court under the full faith and credit clause of the constitution.
Secondly, what about someone using a US passport as ID in lieu of a driver's licence? Obviously not to drive, but they could use that for bathrooms. That's the supremacy clause, again to be settled in the federal courts.
And finally, Florida is a massive international tourist destination, including many trans tourists. Those tourists will have driver's licences and IDLs and passports, issued by their home countries' governments. Florida has a lot more discretion on what to accept or reject on foreign documents than American ones. This seems like an important warning to issue to trans tourists: Florida could stop and arrest people at the airports for being trans and using a passport with an updated gender marker under this basis.
Thank you for bringing this up. My spouse and I are planning a trip to Florida this Spring to visit family, what effect will this have on me? My current drivers license has my new name and gender designation, do I now not only have to worry about stupid bathroom laws, but also if I happen to be pulled over for a brake light out or some other Trumped up excuse?
What is more worrisome is that other states are looking at Florida and Texas as examples for their own anti-LGBTQ legislation. Whatever sticks here can potentially be applied in other states as well.
Erin, as always, thank you for the updates.
Taking bets the FL Highway patrol will set up check points at airports to arrest gender non-conforming tourists
I would not be surprised at all, as a matter of fact, I am counting on it.
UGH... This is straight up handmaid's tale kind of shit. Florida is not safe for any LGTBQ+ person or persons with a uterus. Its a race to the bottom with these ghouls.
Agreed, sadly all of that will take time, years probably, of court cases and winding it's way to the Supreme Court to hopefully be struck down in line with other recent SC rulings on gender.
Meanwhile, the damage will be done to our mental health because they'll harass endlessly and put us in jail until we can afford an attorney to get us out of there. Watch!
This has me very nervous about visiting my family in Florida. The logic of applying 322.212 f.s. to consider changing gender markers to be fraud seemingly might apply to out of state licenses:
“The term “driver license” includes a driver license issued by the department or its agents or a driver license issued by any state or jurisdiction that issues licenses recognized in this state for the operation of a motor vehicle.
(5)(a) It is unlawful for any person to use a false or fictitious name in any application for a driver license or identification card or knowingly to make a false statement, knowingly conceal a material fact, or otherwise commit a fraud in any such application.”
I mean, it’s utter bullshit either way, but the statute they’re trying to apply seems to be written agnostically to whether it’s an in state or out of state license.
This is cruel fascism. Also, it seems unconstitutional (at a minimum, a violation of the due protection clause). So why isn’t the federal gov’t/DOJ getting involved?
What happens for an out-of-state trans driver with a valid license from another state, who visits Florida and gets pulled over? Are they at risk?
We don’t list our height on drivers licenses as 20 inches, which was the situation at birth. We update them based on current status. The same should be always be true for sex/gender, especially in the situation of transition or medical treatment.
This is all unconstitutional until someone like our orange friend gets into office and tears up the constitution on day one. That's what he's talking about when he says that he will only be a dictator on the first day. His belief is that as soon as he invalidates the constitution, he will no longer consider himself a dictator but a rightful ruler.
Yes, I love how the declaration claims that identifying us as the gender that we OBVIOUSLY are now instead of the one we looked like when we were born makes the driver's license worse as a form of identifying us.
FEAR! The entire GOP/MAGA movement is based on generating fear. Why I should fear trans people is something I cannot understand.
You don't need to, sir. You need to fear THEM! They are the monsters running amok behind closed-doors amplifying this bullshit.
I’m very worried about this happening in other states as well - I live in Tennessee and this is very dystopian.
Same
I second that. I'm in GA.
And Utah
Hmmmm this sounds like a great opportunity for the fed government to revoke Florida's RealID privileges. RealID standards specifically require gender, not sex, so Florida would be intentionally taking itself out of compliance with this policy.
Okay, who will send this to the feds? Who has the courage? I can't, in all honesty, put my neck on the chopping-block with no current backup. I'm already way out there as it is and the government knows my name as a Black transman.
Driving while Trans. So, if you get pulled over and you don't pass, you will go to jail where you will be degraded, tortured, and possibly raped. I wonder how many cis women they'll pick up because the cops think they don't pass?
It just keeps getting worse and I worry about this spreading to other states
Yeah this one would be trivial for other regressive states to adopt.
This is literally spreading throughout the world right now. The US based Christian hate group, Family Watch International, is behind a lot of it.
Given Florida's voter ID laws, I'm concerned this will also be used to disenfranchise trans voters there. While voters without an ID can be issued a provisional ballot at the polls, trans voters will likely face harassment or may be even turned away by ignorant poll workers, will be forced to deadname themselves on the previous name field of the provisional ballot, and it will be up to local election boards to determine if their votes will even count at all.
Also of concern is how Florida's legal definitions surrounding gender may be applied or expanded in future to endanger trans Floridians who possess and present a US Passport as their voter ID.
This is just the very tip of the iceberg. If nonsense like this ever makes it to the federal level they will be doing this same exact thing with passports.
In a future GOP administration, this would be almost guaranteed to happen. In fact, coming for passports would be among their first and earliest priorities. Right-wing hate groups would push for it too. They are probably behind a lot of what’s happening in Florida.
That's a big part of why I keep screaming for people to get out no matter what before Inauguration Day. Once passports are revoked, there's no way to get out of the place that's preparing to round us all up into prison at best barring on foot or theoretically swimming.
Another terror tactic in Florida. Once deSantis was humiliated in his presidential run I feared the temper tantrum he would unleash in the state.
This is genocide. It’s only a matter of time before trans people in Florida get murdered en masse at the hands of their government.
They are going to ram these things through as quickly as possible state-by-state, folks. When it reaches the federal level, all these states will be so empowered, they will succumb to these scums. I don't yet know how we can stop this. The T in Nazi Germany couldn't stop them and got run out of the country, imprisoned or killed. This is older than Project 2025 and The Heritage Foundation out of the 1970's (with a different name?).
Anyway, WHAT, WHAT, WHAAAAAAAAT??? This is so insane. If we stop toting that foundation and start calling this what it is, perhaps people will get hot here. Playbook out of Nazi Germany is what this is.
This is how this legislation is passed, quietly and behind the scenes. It almost never makes the daily news, and if it does, it may be a quick 20 second blurb used as filler. The only outlets that consistently broadcast any of this are people like Erin and LGBTQ+ targeted sources, which in all honesty, 90% of CIS people do not pay attention to, most go out of their way to avoid such topics.
There's no imprisoned or killed. Every last trans person imprisoned in Germany at that time was killed in the holocaust. There were zero survivors apart from those who successfully fled the country. (I've never seen any names of trans people who successfully fled Germany post-1933, so it might also be that just plain zero trans people survived period.)
Did you watch that documentary, Nadia? That's not what they say in there and it's a true story. Besides, here they will use civilians to do the murders that happen every year all year. Mostly Black transgender women. Uh huh.
I'm beginning to think someone in leadership in Florida is secretly trans--they are going after trans people with a level of obsession bordering on fascination. This legislation is such a violation of liberty, dignity, personal autonomy, etc. Can you imagine the riots if there were police officers outside the bathroom patting people down for concealed weapons down there? Yet somehow at a traffic stop or on your way into the mens/ladies' room, some local constable is going to feel authorized to make sure your outward appearance, the gender marker on your driver's license, and your biological/chromosomal makeup all match? How are they going to do that? On site? Screw that. That is totally messed up, unconstitutional, unmanageable, and unkind.
Disgusting!!! CPAC and Heritage playbook. Other states will follow suit... soon.
NAZI playbook is more alarming to people who don't know what either of those places are. Everybody knows about the Holocaust, which is better for "messaging". God knows liberals or progressive have a huge messaging problem in this country. Let's not introduce new things and reintroduce very old things that everybody knows. They may not know what happened to transgender people during WWII, but what will they look up faster? If they hear the Holocaust OR CPAC and Heritage playbook? Me thinks the former is what they'll be quicker to look up and try to empathize or sympathize. Use THEIR playbook of messaging against them.
Nazis literally targeted trans people in Germany as one of their first out groups.
That is correct, but many people won't know that until they go looking for it. Then they might see the documentary name I saw and watched. I was alarmed out of my boots, I tell you! That was only a month ago or two.
This is the movie: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/eldorado-netflix-documentary-exposes-secret-gay-history-nazi-germany-lgbtq-1234779816/
This is a great article for those who are not familiar. A lot of valuable history and knowledge was erased by the Nazis, some that most people didn’t even know existed before this century. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-forgotten-history-of-the-worlds-first-trans-clinic/