As Daily Kos continues to cover, Republicans are attacking trans youth from every possible angle. For example, we know conservatives have made their ongoing effort to keep trans girls out of girls’ sports a priority, including for players as young as kindergarten. We’ve also watched elected officials try their hardest to get gender-affirming, age-appropriate health care banned for trans youth, including efforts to criminalize the act of providing such care.
Anti-trans measures have never been directed just at youth, though bills focused on adults tend to get less mass outrage; for example, efforts to pass anti-trans bathroom bills don’t get as much mainstream attention as they once did, but those efforts have not fizzled. Many conservatives have been trying to make it essentially impossible for trans people of any age to update their birth certificates, thus making it incredibly difficult for trans folks to update their other legal documents.
The recent anti-trans effort out of Alabama hits as many points as conservatives can—making gender-affirming care for minors a felony, requiring teachers to “out” trans youth, and perhaps even barring trans youth from getting their driver's license. Yes, really.
Related: You probably haven't heard of this anti-trans bill but it's one of the most extreme yet
Let’s tackle a refresher on the legislation in Alabama. As of now, the misleadingly titled Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act (V-CAP) has passed the Alabama Senate. It heads to the House next, and then the desk of Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, who has already suggested she will sign it into law. The legislation would mandate that both public and private school staff (like teachers, coaches, etc.) would have to “out” youth to their parents if they’re transgender. They would also be barred from encouraging or “coercing” minors from withholding such an identity from their parents or guardians.
Yikes!
And the legislation goes on. It would also make it a crime for physicians to provide gender-affirming care to trans youth, like puberty blockers and hormonal therapies. That crime would come with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $15,000. Notably, this legislation actually defines minors as people under 19, not 18.
Here’s where things get really interesting—and deeply frustrating. The Daily Beast did some excellent deep-dive original reporting on the overlap between this legislation and the ongoing difficulty for trans folks updating their driver’s license in Alabama. Daily Beast spoke to Darcy Corbitt, who says Alabama initially refused to issue her a driver’s license with a female gender marker. Why? She hadn’t received gender-affirming surgery.
So Corbitt, who was a doctoral student at Auburn University, spent about half a year without a valid license, forcing her to rely on others for rides while living in a rural area. More recently, a U.S. district court (thankfully) ruled that Alabama’s policy was unconstitutional and directed the DMV to give Corbitt a driver’s license with the correct gender marker. Excellent! But according to the outlet, in the big picture, the state pushed back and sought to overturn the ruling, which is now going to trial. So Corbitt has her license, but this issue is sadly far from over.
What’s the wider picture? If all these anti-trans efforts in Alabama go into law, trans youth—including people who are 18 years old—will be unable to get a driver’s license with the correct gender marker. If trans people under 19 can’t get gender-affirming care (much less surgery, which is an enormous rarity in minors to begin with) then they can’t get the correct gender marker on their license. So unless they want to be misgendered on their license, they won’t be able to drive until they’re over 19, and that’s assuming they’re able to get gender-affirming care right away.
Realistically, receiving gender-affirming care is an ongoing, lengthy process with medical professionals who err on the side of caution. If you’ve never received gender-affirming care, it’s highly unlikely the first doctor you see is going to approve you for invasive surgery even if you’ve been waiting years, for example.
It’s also worth remembering that a driver’s license (or comparable state ID) is the standard legal identification document for so many things, like applying for a passport, buying cigarettes, renting a car, or registering to vote. It’s standard to ask for this form of photo ID even when handing over your insurance information at the doctor’s office. Chronically misgendering trans folks is legitimately dangerous in this way because then people are basically forced to out themselves as trans to whatever random person is checking IDs to say, get into an adults-only space or buy some over the counter medicine.
It’s unfair, unethical, and frankly, dangerous.