Texas still won't explain why it's making a list of trans people. Advocates are terrified.https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/12/texas-still-wont-explain-why-its-making-a-list-of-trans-people-advocates-are-terrified/ 🔗Faefyx Collington (16 Dec 2025)
For over a year, Texas has been curating a list of people it knows are trans — there are now over 100 names on this list. Those behind the list have refused to explain its purpose, but numerous historical reasons demonstrate why trans people and allies should be concerned.
The state's collection of trans people's data started back in August 2024, when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) changed the rules for updating gender markers on Texan driver's licenses. While it had been possible (if complicated) to update those markers before August of that year, Paxton changed it so that markers could only be corrected because of clerical errors — he refused to update gender markers for any other reason, even if a judge provided a court order.
Since August 2024, anyone who has tried to change the gender marker on their license in Texas (for a reason other than a clerical error) has been denied. However, their information has been forwarded to an internal email address.
According to The Texas Newsroom, the internal email address had collected 42 names by March 2025; by August 2025, that number had risen to 110.
Paxton and the Department of Public Safety (DPS)... have refused to comment or offer any explanation for why they're gathering information about trans people on a list.
Since his initial policy change, Paxton has also investigated whether it would be possible for the state to retroactively reverse gender marker changes on existing licenses.
In 2022, his office asked DPS to provide a list of "changes from male to female and female to male for the last 24 months." The DPS was unable to comply without manually searching through 16,000 possible results.
