Transgender Tennessee woman sues over state’s refusal to change the sex designation on her license
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A transgender Tennessee woman sued the state’s Department of Safety and Homeland Security on Tuesday after officials refused to change the gender on her driver’s license to match her gender identity.
The lawsuit was filed in Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville under the pseudonym Jane Doe by the American Civil Liberties Union. It alleges that the department acted illegally by updating its policies without following the state’s Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, which requires public notice and comment before adopting an administrative rule.
The department previously allowed a change to the gender designation on a Tennessee driver’s license with a physician’s certification that “the necessary medical procedures to effect the gender change have been completed,” according to the lawsuit.
That policy changed after the Legislature passed a law last year that defined “sex” throughout Tennessee code as a person’s “immutable biological sex, as determined by the anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth.” .
Shortly after the law went into effect, the department issued the new guidance to employees about identification. However, the department has not officially updated or rescinded the old rule, according to the lawsuit.
Doe says she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2022 and is currently receiving hormone therapy. She tried to change the gender marker on her driver’s license in February, but was rejected. She has a passport card that identifies her as female and uses it for identification whenever possible, but is sometimes still required to show her driver’s license with the male gender designation, according to the lawsuit.
“Ms. Doe is forced to disclose her transgender status when she shows a third party her driver’s license,” the lawsuit states, adding that “she fears discrimination, harassment and violence based on her status as a transgender woman.”
The lawsuit says the new policy violates Doe’s constitutional rights to privacy, freedom of speech, equal protection and due process and asks the judge to rule to that effect. It also asks the court to declare the new policy void because it violates the Tennessee Uniform Procedures Act and to reverse the denial of Doe’s gender designation on her license.
A spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, Wes Moster, said in an email that the department does not comment on pending litigation. He referred questions to the Attorney General’s Office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday.