Routine trips to the Texas Department of Public Safety for a driver’s license update have quietly been feeding into something very different: a state-maintained list of people who asked to change the sex marker on their IDs. The practice began after state agencies moved to halt most gender-marker updates, and officials still have not publicly explained what, exactly, they intend to do with the information.
What the records show
According to reporting from KUT, internal documents show the Texas Department of Public Safety assembled a list of 110 people who tried to change the gender on their driver’s licenses between August 2024 and August 2025. The records, which have identifying details redacted, indicate that driver’s license office staff around the state sent names and license numbers to a single department inbox. The agency has not offered a public explanation for why the data were gathered or whether the list has been shared with other state offices.
How the register was built
The list grew out of an internal decision in August 2024 to stop accepting court orders as a basis for changing the sex marker on IDs and to route those requests to an internal email address instead, as reported by The Texas Tribune. Staff were told to scan related documents into the system and to use the subject line “Sex Change Court Order” when submitting cases, a process critics say effectively turned what used to be routine paperwork into a centralized registry of people seeking gender-marker changes.
What is public and what is secret
Records released earlier this year show the attorney general’s office allowed DPS to withhold additional documents about the policy change, while disclosing the names of four employees who have access to the special inbox, according to KUT. The same records show the agency opened an investigation into threats made against the driver’s license division chief after the policy became public. No case was ultimately referred to the Travis County Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
Legal and privacy questions
Privacy advocates and legal experts say centralizing these requests raises serious civil liberties concerns because it creates a searchable trail linked to highly sensitive identity information. There are roughly 161,000 transgender adults in Texas, according to the Williams Institute, and advocates warn that even a relatively small list could be used in future policy or enforcement actions, a fear documented in reporting by The Texas Tribune.
What to watch next
Reporters and advocates say they are watching closely for any sign that the list is being shared across agencies, tapped to shape new rules, or expanded beyond the time frame that has already come to light. For now, the state’s silence about how and why it is collecting these requests is likely to draw more scrutiny, more open records fights, and potentially legal challenges.
