Judge orders Kansas to stop changing trans people’s sex listing on their driver’s licenses

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A state-court judge on Monday ordered Kansas to stop allowing transgender people to change the listing for their sex on their driver’s licenses, ahead of the first hearing in a lawsuit filed by state’s Republican attorney general against the practice.

District Judge Teresa Watson issued the order three days after Attorney General Kris Kobach sued two officials in Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration over her announcement that the state’s motor vehicles division would continue changing driver’s licenses for transgender people so that the sex listing matches their gender identities. Kobach contends that a law, which took effect on July 1, prevents such changes and requires the state to reverse any previous changes in its records.

The order will stay in effect for up to two weeks, although Watson can extend it. But the judge’s move is significant because transgender people have been able to change their driver’s licenses for four years, and almost 400 people have done so.