Tennessee’s policy that denies transgender people from changing their gender markers is being challenged in the courts.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) and Memphis-based law firm Holland & Associates PC filed a petition earlier this week challenging this decision against the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDSHS).
In 2023 the state stopped transgender citizens from making changes to their gender on their driver’s licenses. Most recently, President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring there are only two genders — male and female.
As a result, several transgender and nonbinary Tennesseans have been left without accurate driver’s licenses and state identification documents.
Prior to this the state allowed gender changes on state IDs with proper documentation from a physician “for at least 27 years before July 1, 2023,” officials said.
“An accurate driver license is far more than a document for operating a vehicle – it is a cornerstone of daily life and identity,” court documents state. “For transgender people, having identification that reflects their lived sex is essential for safety as well as the practical necessities of life.”
With contradicting identification situations such as TSA screenings and traffic stops can be further escalated. This also causes complications for applying for jobs, housing, and financial services.
“Our clients need accurate identification documents in order to travel for work and family, to vote, and to engage in everyday life like everyone else,” Lucas Cameron-Vaugn, ACLU-TN senior staff attorney, said. “Forcing them to carry identification that contradicts who they are – or else withholding that identification altogether – is cruel, unfair, and unlawful.”
Last year the case of Doe et al. v. Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security et al. was filed on behalf of plaintiff Jane Doe who said the department’s policy had caused her “significant harm.”
Chrissy Miller, a transgender woman, was later added as a plaintiff after TDSHS asked her to “surrender her license” after successfully changing her gender marker. A Davidson County Chancery Court judge stopped this action.
In September TDSHS was ordered to “evaluate its actions and determine whether the agency stood by them.” They stood by these policies in a January 2025 hearing and refused to “stop enforcing the rule.”
The ACLU-TN said this is what resulted in their filing, and are asking the court to decide if TDSHS’ actions are “legally valid.”
