The office of Ken Paxton’s request speaks to the increasing scrutiny and targeting of transgender individuals by GOP lawmakersRolling StoneBy NikkiI McCann RamirezDecember 14, 2022TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL Ken Paxton’s office sought data from the Texas Department of Public Safety in an effort to identify transgender individuals in the state, according to a report from The Washington Post.The department reportedly received a request in June from the attorney general’s office regarding information on Texans who had changed their gender on their drivers licenses or in other government records within the past two years.An internal email reviewed by the Post described the scope of the request. “Need total number of changes from male to female and female to male for the last 24 months, broken down by month,” the Texas DPS driver license division chief wrote in a June email. “We won’t need DL/ID numbers at first but may need to have them later if we are required to manually look up documents.”The department ultimately concluded that the data could not be “accurately produced” and did not provide any materials to the attorney general. While it’s unclear why exactly Paxton sought the information, the request itself is more than a little concerning given how the state has been doing everything it can to make life miserable for trans people.
“Today’s story out of Texas is chilling,” Human Rights Campaign Legal Director Sarah Warbelow said in a statement provided to Rolling Stone. “Weaponizing state agencies and their public records to pinpoint and single out transgender Texans is terrifying, albeit not shocking. Throughout 2022, Attorney General Paxton, along with Governor Abbott, have stopped at nothing to attack the very existence of transgender youth and adults. This development shows how far they’re willing to go in discriminating against transgender people.”
“This is another brick building toward targeting these individuals,” said Ian Pittman, an Austin attorney who represents Texas parents of transgender children investigated by the state. “They’ve already targeted children and parents. The next step would be targeting adults. And what better way than seeing what adults had had their sex changed on their driver’s licenses?”Alexis Salkeld Garcia, 34, of Austin, a trans woman who changed the gender listed on her driver’s license from male to female a year and a half ago, said the attorney general’s office inquiry made her feel “terrified.”
Yeah, I don't blame her for feeling terrified I also would.
It was just the number of trans people but he said that he might want names!
Paxton’s office bypassed the normal channels — DPS’s government relations and general counsel’s offices — and went straight to the driver license division staff in making the request, according to a state employee familiar with it, who said the staff was told that Paxton’s office wanted “numbers” and later would want “a list” of names, as well as “the number of people who had had a legal sex change.”
[...]
During the following two months, the employee said, the DPS staff searched its records for changes in the “sex” category of not only driver’s licenses but also state ID cards available from birth, learner’s permits issued to those age 15 and up, commercial licenses, state election certificates, and occupational licenses. The employee spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation for describing internal state discussions.
DPS staff members compiled a list of 16,466 gender changes between June 1, 2020 and June 30, 2022, public records show. In the emails, DPS staff members repeatedly referred to the request as coming from the attorney general’s office as they discussed attempting to narrow the data to include only licenses that had been altered to reflect a court-ordered change in someone’s gender.
This is something out of the book "1984" big brother is watching you!
And was there a cover up?
Last month, The Post made a request to Paxton’s office for all records the attorney general’s office had directed other state offices to compile related to driver’s licenses in which the sex of the driver was changed, as well as related emails between Paxton’s office and other state agencies.
Officials indicated that no such records existed.
“Why would the Office of the Attorney General have gathered this information?” Assistant Attorney General June Harden wrote in an email to The Post, later adding, “Why do you believe this is the case?”
[...]
Skeen [Shelly Skeen, a Dallas-based senior attorney at Lambda Legal] called the attorney general’s inquiry into driver’s license records “a gross violation of privacy” intended to “target one group of people to fire up their base while transgender people are just trying to live their lives.”
“The constitutional issues that this raises are equal protection and due process under the 14th Amendment as well as discrimination based on sex,” Skeen said.
Big Brother is watching you!
Austin American-Statesman via USA TodayBy Hogan GoreDecember 14, 2022Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Monday targeting a federal rule that prohibits discrimination in foster care and adoption services.Paxton's office is seeking a judgment against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over an Obama-era administrative rule prohibiting foster care and adoption service agencies from using federal money on programs or companies that discriminate on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation and same-sex marriage.Paxton argues in the suit that the federal rule, known as the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity rule, or SOGI, does not prohibit the state from contracting with child placing agencies that are not in compliance."There are so many vital religious institutions in Texas and around the country that can aid in making sure foster children are protected and able to find good homes,” Paxton said Monday in a news release announcing the lawsuit. “The SOGI Rule would force them either to adopt a radical woke agenda or surrender their mission of helping children."
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