TLDR:

• Kansas became the first state to retroactively void transgender residents’ driver’s licenses, effective Thursday
• Residents who drove legally Wednesday could face criminal citations Thursday — with no grace period
• An LGBTQ group issued a formal “evacuation order” urging transgender Kansans to leave the state
• The Kansas Department of Revenue sent notices this week directing affected drivers to surrender their licenses immediately

Kansas made history Thursday — but not the kind transgender residents were hoping for. The state became the first in the nation to retroactively void driver’s licenses and birth certificates amended to reflect gender identity rather than biological sex, leaving an estimated 1,700 transgender Kansans suddenly driving without a valid license and exposed to criminal citations.

“No other state has retroactively voided legally issued identity documents. Kansas will be the first,” said Samantha Boucher, founder of Trans Liberty PAC. “Trans Kansans who have been living, working, and driving with valid IDs for years will wake up with them null and void, and driving with an invalid license is itself a criminal offense in Kansas.”

The law, House Substitute for Senate Bill 244, took effect after Republican lawmakers overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s Feb. 13 veto. The Legislature did not include a grace period.

The Kansas Department of Revenue sent notices this week directing affected drivers to surrender their credentials immediately and obtain new ones reflecting their sex at birth.

Trans Liberty PAC issued a formal “evacuation order,” urging transgender residents to leave Kansas “for their safety.”

Read more:

• PAC calls on trans Kansans to flee after law voids opposite-sex driver’s license markers