Florida will throw trans people in jail if they try to update the gender on their driver’s licenses

Florida has threatened to punish any transgender person who tries to change the gender listed on their state-issued driver’s licenses. Such individuals would be charged with trying to make a false ID and face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The threat appeared in a January 26 letter signed by Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FHSMV) deputy executive director Robert Kynoch and addressed to state county tax collector’s offices.

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Kynoch’s letter said that the FHSMV would rescind its previous policy that allowed individuals to correct their licenses’ gender markers after transitioning. The previous policy didn’t require individuals to show any proof of having undergone gender-affirming surgeries.

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“The term ‘gender’… does not refer to a person’s internal sense of his or her gender role of identification, but has historically and commonly been understood as a synonym for ‘sex,’ which is determined by innate and immutable biological and genetic characteristics,” his letter stated. It said that allowing people to alter their licenses based on gender identity “undermines the purpose of an identification record and can frustrate the state’s ability to enforce its laws.”

“Misrepresenting one’s gender, understood as sex, on a driver license constitutes fraud,” the letter continued, “and subjects an offender to criminal and civil penalties, including cancellation, suspension, or revocation of his or her driver license.”

Civil rights attorney, Harvard Law instructor, and LGBTQ+ activist Alejandra Caraballo noted via X that the FHSMV’s new policy seems intended to stop trans people from renewing their drivers’ licenses while the state legislature considers a bill that would forbid trans people from changing their licenses’ gender markers. She also noted that even out-of-state trans motorists could be charged with fraud under the new FHSMV policy.

“Any out trans person could have their license revoked or suspended at any time under this policy and unlikely to be able to be renewed with the current gender marker,” Caraballo wrote. “This is a massive and intrusive change erasing legal recognition and criminalizing trans people in the state.”

“This is a ‘show me your papers’ policy for trans people in the state of Florida,” Caraballo told Newsweek. “It’s a dangerous change that will forcibly out trans people and put them at immense risk for discrimination and violence.”

Nadine Smith, executive director of the statewide LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Equality Florida, said the law threatens the estimated 94,900 trans-identifying adults currently living in Florida.

“This cruel policy threatens transgender Floridians with civil and criminal penalties and blocks them from obtaining the critical government-issued identification necessary to continue their daily lives,” she wrote in a statement. “[Trans Floridians] carefully followed the rules to ensure their identification accurately reflects who they are, and they trusted this process. Now, an abrupt policy reversal has thrown their lives into chaos. The cruelty of this kind of government overreach and intrusion should alarm every Floridian.”

In a separate statement, Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson wrote, “For years, transgender people have warned of radical anti-LGBTQ+ forces’ true aim…. They want to humiliate, harass, and use policy to eliminate transgender people from public life.”

“[Policies like the one] coming from Florida’s DHSMV, would have devastating consequences,” Robinson continued. “Those policies would forcibly out transgender people anywhere they use a driver’s license or identification document, including when checking in at a hotel, meeting friends at a bar, renting a car, or boarding a plane, among many other instances.”

“But you cannot legislate away the community,” Robinson added. “Transgender people are powerful. They are our friends, neighbors, and family members. And we will stand arm-in-arm with them to fight back against this sinister agenda.”