On Tuesday, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders reached into her grab bag of dirty culture war tricks and pulled out a gimmick guaranteed to disgust kind people and incite mean ones.
Starting today, Arkansans must provide an amended birth certificate if they wish to change the sex listed on driver’s licenses or state-issued IDs. And using an “X” instead of an “M” or “F” will no longer be allowed.
Lest you be tempted to give the Sanders administration the benefit of the doubt, chalking this up to an attempt at easier record-keeping, here’s the governor doubling down on the awfulness:
“This policy is just common sense. Only women give birth, men shouldn’t play women’s sports, and there are only two genders. As long as I’m governor, Arkansas state government will not endorse nonsense,” she said, sounding like 2024’s own Hazel Bryan.
It’s been a while since Sanders snarled about traditional womanhood and threats thereto. It was October when she trotted out state Surgeon General Kay Chandler to to espouse the sanctity of childbearing women and tut the idea of such terms as “chest feeding” and “pregnant person.”
Sanders called that October press conference to let us know that language meant to be inclusive of people across the gender spectrum would henceforth be banished from state documents and communications. (It also served as a distraction from #lecterngate, which, we must note here, is ongoing.)
So it’s not at all surprising for Sanders to turn her spite spigot back toward a transgender population that’s used to being pummeled.
Never an original, Sanders is prone to piggyback on the most shameful culture war flareups in other states. Such appears to be the case today, after yesterday’s ruling from a Kansas judge that it’s OK to deny transgender people’s requests to change the sex on their drivers licenses.
Is it good governance to stir up anger and tribalism even when there’s no efficiency or cost savings to be realized? Or is it another tacky PR stunt? We all know the answer. Still, state officials are falling in line with the governor’s tactics, arguing that allowing gender updates on state-issued IDs somehow invites fraud.
“This change announced today reflects a commonsense approach that ensures a license or ID issued by the state of Arkansas is based on objective, verifiable information,” Department of Finance and Administration Secretary Jim Hudson said in the official press release. “All of our stakeholders in law enforcement, other government agencies, caregivers, schools and businesses depend on DFA-issued licenses and IDs to keep our communities safe and to prevent fraud.”
The ACLU of Arkansas disagrees. “Labeling this policy rollback as a ‘commonsense approach’ is not only misleading but deeply harmful. Such outdated, disproven, and discriminatory ideas about gender identity do nothing to protect people.”
The ACLU cited research from the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association, noting that they advocate for the right of individuals to self-certify their gender on identification documents.
“Accurate and consistent identity documents are a fundamental necessity, enabling individuals to travel, secure employment, open bank accounts, and enroll in educational programs,” the statement said. For transgender people, an ID that “accurately reflects their true self is crucial for their safety and well-being.”
The finance department has submitted an emergency rule to the state Legislature that “specifies the process DFA will follow to validate a license or ID holder’s gender,” the agency said in a press release. “We are committed to implementing this new policy in a manner that is respectful towards all of our customers,” Hudson said.
Maybe this new policy codifying the gender binary will come in handy should Arkansas take the logical next step in its bathroom crusades and start carding at the door. Otherwise, it seems pretty useless.
It’s also a bit of a shift. Arkansas Republicans have long attacked defenseless transgender kids hoping to pee at school or to raise a hand and have the teacher call them by their preferred name. Sanders and Co. seem to be shifting their sights to grown-ups now. It’s a dicier proposition, far harder to fearmonger when you can’t toss around apocryphal tales of underage predators in school bathrooms or glory-hungry little boys stealing little girls’ sports trophies.
There’s no easy way around the latest gender dictate from the state. Driver’s license hopefuls in Arkansas have to show a birth certificate. Arkansas law does allow for birth certificate changes if a mistake was made, and it’s arguable that a gender identity at birth that turns out to miss the mark could be considered a mistake. But that would be up to a judge to determine.
“Recent actions by the governor illustrate a continued pattern of targeting vulnerable minorities, silencing dissent, and infringing upon the rights and privacy of Arkansans,” the ACLU’s statement said. “She has been a textbook example of how to abuse the power of office for government overreach intruding into the private lives of Arkansans in violation of our rights and dignity.”
Sanders has drawn a new battle line in the war on transgender people across the DMV floor. That won’t surprise transgender people and advocates in Arkansas combat-hardened by the state’s routine efforts to deny them their rights.
