The state of Texas is compiling a list of transgender residents, utilizing the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) as part of this effort. Over the past year, the Texas Department of Public Safety has gathered information on individuals seeking to change the gender marker on their driver’s licenses, resulting in a list of more than 100 individuals.
Internal documents obtained through records requests reveal that between August 2024 and August 2025, the department recorded the names and license numbers of 110 individuals who attempted to update their gender. Staff at driver’s license offices across Texas, from El Paso to Paris to Plano, reported this information to a designated agency email account. However, identifying details were redacted from the documents provided.
This data collection began after Texas changed its policy, which now only permits gender updates to licenses in the case of correcting clerical errors. The purpose of this list remains unclear.
An agency spokesperson did not provide answers regarding the rationale behind the creation of this list or whether it has been shared with other agencies or officials. Despite filing records requests to seek clarification, no additional insights have been obtained regarding the state’s intentions for this information.
In recent years, Republican lawmakers in Texas have enacted several laws that restrict the rights of transgender individuals, including two new measures implemented this year. One law redefines “male” and “female” on official documents based on an individual’s reproductive system, while another, often referred to as the “bathroom bill,” prohibits individuals from using restrooms in public buildings, parks, or libraries that do not correspond to their sex assigned at birth.
The enforcement of the bathroom bill remains uncertain. Recently, transgender activist Ry Vazquez reported being asked to show identification before using a restroom in the Texas State Capitol. Vazquez, along with three others, was cited for criminal trespassing and banned from the building for a year.
Landon Richie, the policy coordinator for the Transgender Education Network of Texas, expressed concern that the state’s list could be used to formulate additional legislation that further diminishes the rights of transgender individuals. “The state collecting this information raises a lot of red flags, not just in terms of people’s privacy and ability to exist not under a magnifying glass,” he stated. Richie also questioned how this data might be utilized in drafting new laws that could infringe upon the civil rights of transgender Texans.
According to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, there are approximately 161,000 transgender adults residing in Texas, representing less than 1% of the state’s population.
For years, transgender individuals in Texas were able to amend their state identification to reflect their gender identity by obtaining a court order and submitting it to the relevant state agencies responsible for issuing driver’s licenses and birth certificates. However, following the implementation of new restrictions on driver’s licenses last fall, the state’s health agency adopted similar measures, now only allowing changes to birth certificates in cases of correcting hospital errors or omissions.
In March, reports indicated that the state was continuing to collect information on those who sought to make these changes despite the new policies. The attorney general’s office, which oversees public record determinations, permitted the agency to keep certain documents about these policy changes confidential; however, it did disclose the names of the four employees with access to the special email account.
Additionally, records show that the agency investigated threats against the chief of the driver’s license division following the public announcement of the policy change, although no cases were forwarded to the Travis County Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
The Texas Newsroom has requested an updated version of the list being maintained by the state.
