In June, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office requested a list of everyone who had changed their gender on state driver's licenses in the past two years— and the reasons why. washingtonpost
. State lawmakers have already proposed more than a dozen anti-LGBTQ measures ahead of the next legislative session in January, including criminalizing gender-affirming care and banning minors at drag shows.
Alexis Salkeld Garcia, 34, of Austin, a trans woman who changed the gender listed on her driver’s license from male to female a year and a half ago, said the attorney general’s office inquiry made her feel “terrified.” Paxton’s office bypassed the normal channels — DPS’ government relations and general counsel’s offices — and went straight to the driver license division staff in making the request, according to a state employee familiar with it, who said the staff was told that Paxton’s office wanted “numbers” and later would want “a list” of names, as well as “the number of people who had had a legal sex change.
DPS staff members did spot checks on the data, examining records that included names of specific individuals, according to records and the state employee familiar with the inquiry. But it was hard to weed out driver’s licenses that had been changed in error, or multiple times, or for reasons other than gender changes.
Last month, The Post made a request to Paxton’s office for all records the attorney general’s office had directed other state offices to compile related to driver’s licenses in which the sex of the driver was changed, as well as related emails between Paxton’s office and other state agencies.
Separately, DPS provided The Post with a half-dozen documents spanning three months that referenced the request by Paxton’s office.
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