Trans Texan, Updating My Gender Marker Changed Everything. Now, Others Can’t

[Jessica_Rose]

As a Trans Texan, Updating My Gender Marker Changed Everything. Now, Others Can't Do the Same

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/as-a-trans-texan-updating-my-gender-marker-changed-everything-now-others-can-t-do-the-same/ar-AA1uNUyu?ocid=windirect&cvid=82c2ea34b4014b91a1964c9f923336f3&ei=53

Story by KB Brookins (26 Nov 2024)

Upon hearing on August 21st that the Texas Department of Public Safety quietly revoked the ability to change your gender on driver's licenses and birth certificates, I was flabbergasted. Shattered. An already-near-impossible process of officially changing one's name and gender marker was taken away. Trans Texans are now without a right that granted me the ability to live with less fear. And soon, when Donald Trump takes office again, many fear that trans Americans across the country could have the same right stolen.

The difference between my life from April 2021 to September 2022 — when I didn't "look like a girl" but had a feminine name and sex on my ID — and now is like night and day. I can hand over my ID and not be put in harm's way by the people looking back at me. It says Kaybee, Sex: M (and that's still not right, but Texas is one of the states that hasn't offered an X gender marker). I no longer feel like I'm outing myself, like I'm offering my life to someone when I hand a piece of plastic over.

I spent too much time with an identity that is not mine, and I was able to change it. So should everybody else.