On January 26th, a memo was quietly released from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles that effectively bans trans people from having an ID or driver's license that accurately represents their gender identity.

The memo states that "Permitting an individual to alter his or her license to reflect an internal sense of gender role or identity, which is neither immutable nor objectively verifiable, undermines the purpose of an identification record and can frustrate the state's ability to enforce its laws."

The memo goes further by stating that anyone who "misrepresents" their gender on their license could potentially be charged with fraud and have their license suspended or revoked, criminalizing a process that has been in use for years. (This would not apply to those who have already had their gender markers changed).

This is yet another example of weaponizing administrative bodies to lay the groundwork for additional legislation. In this case, that's House Bill 1639, which would have a similar effect in requiring licenses to list "sex" instead of "gender."

Trans people deserve an ID that identifies who they truly are, and that means recognizing and acknowledging their gender identity. That's why we are calling on the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to launch an official investigation and intervene in this encroachment on the rights of transgender Floridians.