Trans Kansans will soon be allowed to change gender on driver’s licenses
For the first time in two years, Kansans will be allowed to change the gender on their driver’s licenses and state identification cards unless the state Supreme Court intervenes to prevent it.
In a ruling published Friday, the Kansas Court of Appeals reversed a district court judge’s injunction preventing the Department of Revenue from accommodating requests to change the gender marker listed on IDs.
Licenses note the driver’s sex with either an “M” or “F” along with their height, weight and eye color.
Attorney General Kris Kobach sued KDOR over the practice, asserting that transgender Kansans should not be allowed to have documentation that reflects their identity under a 2023 state law barring trans people from single-sex spaces.
KDOR stopped issuing gender marker changes in July 2023 under an order from Shawnee County Judge Theresa Watson, who issued a temporary injunction reaffirming her opinion in March 2024.
But a three-judge appeals panel found that Kobach failed to provide any evidence that irreparable harm would be caused by allowing for gender marker changes while the lawsuit works its way through the courts.
“The AG’s entire argument rests on a presumption that the KDOR has violated the law. But, as the State concedes, a decision on a temporary injunction is not a final determination of the merits,” wrote Judge Karen Arnold-Burger.
Kobach’s attorneys argued, among other things, that inaccurate information on a driver’s license could affect law enforcement’s ability to accurately identify a person and that “a mismatch between the sex on a warrant and identification could allow a wanted person to escape.”
The appeals court rejected Kobach’s arguments in no uncertain terms.
“No one was able to bring forward any instance of the feared harm of misidentification of criminals in the last 16 years or even the potential that it could be a problem,” Arnold-Burger wrote. “Instead, the evidence was overwhelming that there was no harm.”
In a statement, Kobach derided the ruling and promised to appeal the deicsion to the Kansas Supreme Court.
“The Court of Appeals opinion contains multiple factual errors, and its legal analysis is deeply flawed,” Kobach said. “In a case of such importance to the public, one would expect the Court of Appeals to be more careful.”
Kobach will have 30 days to appeal the decision, and the Supreme Court will have seven days after receiving the petition to determine whether or not the order reversing the injuntion should take effect.
“I am glad the Kansas Department of Revenue can resume issuing credentials that align with the law,” Gov. Laura Kelly said in a statement Friday.
Kelly vetoed the 2023 legislation defining sex based on reproductive anatomy at birth. But Republican supermajorities in the Legislature overrode her and the bill became law.
Impact on trans Kansans
KDOR has allowed for gender marker changes on driver’s licenses and state IDs since 2007.
Between 2011 and 2022, roughly 380 Kansas drivers had the sex designation on the front of their license changed, Arnold-Burger noted. That accounts for 0.004% of the more than 9 million licenses issued by the state over 11 years.
“The district court committed an error of fact by concluding that there was evidence — any evidence beyond mere speculation — to support a finding that law enforcement would be immediately hindered in the identification of suspects, victims, wanted persons, missing persons, detainees, and others if the driver’s license did not display the driver’s sex assigned at birth,” Arnold-Burger wrote.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, which joined the case on behalf of five trans Kansans, celebrated Friday’s ruling as a major victory.
“Being required to use a license with the wrong gender marker has already meant that transgender Kansans have been outed against their consent in their daily lives. We commend the incredible courage and sense of community our clients have had in standing up to this attack on all of our fundamental rights,” ACLU attorney D.C. Hiegert said in a statement.
Arnold-Burger and the two other appeals court judges who issued the ruling — Chief Judge Sarah Warner and Judge Stephen Hill — remanded the lawsuit back to the district court and ordered that it be presided over by a judge other than Watson.
Kobach rejected that decision, too.
“The Court improperly attempts to strip jurisdiction over the case away from the district court judge — which is highly unusual,” he said. “We will be asking the Kansas Supreme Court to review this case in an expedited manner and overturn the Court of Appeals decision.”
This story was originally published June 13, 2025 at 1:16 PM.
