Red States Are Quietly Making Lists for Tracking Trans People
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This story was originally published at Prism.
Kansas, Texas, Indiana, Tennessee, and other states are creating lists of trans people, moves that advocates say would make it nearly impossible to exist in a trans body.
In February, Kansas revoked the state identification cards and birth certificates of trans residents, making it the first state to cancel documents of individuals who changed their gender markers. The move was made possible as a result of the state’s comprehensive list of trans people. Since 2019, Kansas has kept an internal record of trans individuals who have changed their gender markers on birth certificates.
The state’s Republican-majority Legislature passed Kansas’ Senate Bill 244, overriding a veto from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. The legislation immediately voids every trans person’s corrected driver’s license and birth certificate, authorizes $1,000 lawsuits against trans people for using public restrooms, and creates additional fines and jail time for violations.
The bill in Kansas has been closely followed by other red states quietly moving forward with similar actions, dramatically and dangerously increasing the surveillance of trans and gender-expansive people, according to trans rights advocates.
“It’s not just that the right disagrees with the complexity of identity and gender; it’s that they really want to make it impossible for trans and nonbinary folks to live the full lives that we deserve,” said Raquel Willis, co-founder and strategic director of the Gender Liberation Movement.
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The legislation turns everyday activities into legal liabilities, including buying alcohol, voting, and even driving. This is not the first time, and not nearly the last, that a state has tracked trans bodies with the intention of stripping communities of their right to exist, organizers said.
In Tennessee, lawmakers have advanced legislation that would create a........
