Five transgender Kansans allowed to intervene in case centered on gender ID on licenses

Five transgender Kansans will be allowed to have their voices heard in a court case that will decide whether gender markers can be changed on driver’s licenses.

Shawnee County District Judge Theresa Watson issued an order Friday granting a motion to intervene in the case. In the 10-page order, Watson wrote that the trans Kansans have an interest in persuading the court to interpret a law passed earlier this year that could change whether gender markers can be altered and that intervention is a matter within the court’s discretion.

Sharon Brett, legal director for the ACLU of Kansas, said she was gratified by the decision.

“For our clients and the entire community they represent, this case is about the privacy, dignity, and autonomy that comes from having accurate gender markers on their license, and about their right to be safe from the harassment they would face if forced to present inaccurate IDs that would essentially out them against their will in daily life,” she said in a statement.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, who opposed intervention, said the primary legal question remains the same.

“Does a state agency have to follow the plain meaning of a law passed by our duly-elected legislators? With respect to the constitutional challenge raised by the ACLU, we look forward to rebutting their novel theories in court.”

Kobach filed a lawsuit last month to block Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration from allowing transgender Kansans to continue to change their gender marker on driver’s licenses after a new law took effect.

In a motion of mandamus filed in Shawnee County District Court against the Kansas Department of Revenue, Kobach, a Republican, said Kelly was unlawfully ignoring SB 180, which defines man and woman in state law based upon sex assigned at birth.

Watson issued a temporary restraining order, blocking changes on licenses from being made.

The ACLU of Kansas filed a motion to intervene in the case on behalf of five trans Kansans.

On Wednesday, Brett argued before Watson that the statutory bar for intervening in a case was low and that SB 180 conflicts with her client’s constitutional rights. She said if the constitutionality of the issue was put aside in this case, another lawsuit would follow and prolong the court process. Such a delay, she said, would harm transgender Kansans.

Kansas Solicitor General Anthony Powell said the case was centered on the department of revenue fulfilling its duties to process licenses and those responsibilities do not involve private citizens. The constitutional questions that were being raised were a separate question, he said, and could be brought in a different case.

After the hearing in Topeka, which lasted just over 40 minutes, Brett said, “Our goal here is to make sure that this piece of litigation which is going to fundamentally impact the constitutional rights of all transgender Kansans is not conducted devoid of the voices of the people impacted by it.”

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said the notion that people’s voices were being silenced was ridiculous.

“We have stated in our briefing and in our oral argument that we absolutely will be happy to answer their constitutional claims, it’s just that procedurally, those should follow the determination of what the statute means,” Kobach said.