Republican Policies Are Making It Harder For Trans People To Vote — And Do Everyday Life

Republican-led states are increasingly making it difficult for trans people to update their gender marker on state-issued documents.

Brandyn Gallagher should be on the road right now. Instead, the 36-year-old, who has spent the last five years driving an 18-wheeler, is at home in northeast Arkansas looking for a new job.

Gallagher doesn’t want to give up trucking. They pivoted to the profession after working as a consultant for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and were happy it provided some financial stability to help pay off their student loans. But they are worried that a new state rule about gender markers on driver’s licenses might put them at risk when they’re on the road.

In March, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an emergency order eliminating the “X” gender-neutral marker option, which had been in place for 14 years. Gallagher has an X on their license to denote their identity as a trans and intersex person. The order also forces trans people to provide an amended birth certificate with their correct gender marker, which they can obtain only after getting a court order and presenting medical documentation of surgery, before they can change the gender marker on their license.

A Pulaski County Circuit Court judge blocked the order in June, and Gallagher updated their license with an “X,” which matches their passport and Transportation Security Administration documents. But the Arkansas Supreme Court reinstated the order later that month, and within weeks Gallagher had received a letter from the state Department of Finance and Administration telling them that the office’s internal computer system would list them as “male” going forward.

Gallagher has stopped trucking out of fear of what might happen if they’re stopped by the police while hauling hazardous materials — a high-paying position they had secured earlier this year — and a scan of their ID shows an incongruence between their physical license and the state’s records.