There are certain matters where only facts should be considered. A person can "identify" as a ham sandwich, but that doesn't make it true, and no matter what a person may identify as — male, female, unbranded, or five-spirit otherkin, there are times when what parts that person was born with matters above anything else. One of those things is the delivery of health care. Another is the matter of government-issued identification. An identification, whether it be a state-issued driver's license or ID card or a U.S. passport card, must present immutable characteristics to identify the holder of that document. And, yes, that's been a matter of some debate in recent years.
In Kansas, that debate would appear to have ended. On Monday, District Judge Teresa Watson upheld a previous ruling prohibiting the Kansas Department of Revenue from allowing "transgender" individuals to change their sex on their Kansas-issued identification.
In a memorandum, District Judge Teresa Watson kept in place an existing ruling she previously made in July 2023 to prohibit the Department of Revenue from allowing transgender individuals to change their biological sex on ID cards.
Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach first sued Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly in 2023 after a law passed by the legislature suspended sex changes on ID cards. Kelly vetoed the bill – SB 180 – sparking the lawsuit. The court then issued a temporary restraining order.
"This decision is a victory for the rule of law and common sense," Kobach said in a statement. "The Legislature wisely stated that state agencies should record biological sex at birth, and today the court held that the meaning of the law is clear."
I would point out that "biological sex" is a redundancy, as sex is fundamentally a matter of biology, but that seems to be a nit that it's not necessary to pick at the moment.
While this issue of identification is just one part of the greater controversy over gender ideology, it's good that at least Kansas is getting it right.
See Related: Therapist Blows Whistle on Hospital Forcing Professionals to Use 'Gender-Affirming Care' to Treat Kids
An identification document, to be valid, must present information about who a person is. This includes identifying physical characteristics, such as height, weight, hair color, eye color, and, yes, sex. It's important to note that, when identifying a person based on their documentation, the person may not be conscious or responsive, and that may require medical care. The delivery of that medical care may well be dependent on their actual sex, not their "identified" sex.
This is not a complex issue. A state-issued ID is required to use a person's legal name (although, in the interest of fairness, a name isn't immutable; there is a process by which one can change their legal name) and must, in other respects, accurately identify them; otherwise, the document is inaccurate and basically useless.
As Judge Watson notes, this decision makes no statement about how transgender people may identify or what steps they may take to try to change themselves to meet that perceived identity; this decision is solely about the immutable characteristics presented on state-issued identification.
"Information recorded on a driver’s license does not interfere with transgender persons’ ability to control their own bodies or assert bodily integrity or self-determination," Watson wrote on Monday. "It does not prevent them from "mak[ing] their own decisions regarding their bodies, their health, their family formation, and their family life."
All of this is accurate. In social settings, even in workplaces that allow it, a person can "identify" as whatever they please. But their state-issued identification must reflect who they actually are, not who they imagine themselves to be.
It's interesting to note that the article linked above includes, as an illustration, a 17-year-old named "Tree" Crane, in Salt Lake City, holding a sign that says, "I just want to be a boy." If anyone was truly interested in helping this young skull-full-of-mush, they should tell her, "Well, you aren't a boy," and help her (or her parents) locate appropriate psychiatric care.
