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. 😢
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 😢
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.
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.
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.
FEAR! The entire GOP/MAGA movement is based on generating fear. Why I should fear trans people is something I cannot understand.
I’m very worried about this happening in other states as well - I live in Tennessee and this is very dystopian.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.