Think about driving dwelling from work, opening your mail, and studying that your driver’s license is now invalid as a result of it lists you as male however the state believes you might be feminine. Earlier than you get behind the wheel once more, even in an emergency, you could go to the motor automobiles workplace and get a brand new license with an “F” gender marker. In the event you don’t do that and are stopped by a police officer, you could be charged with a misdemeanor for driving with no legitimate license. In the event you do get a brand new license, the officer would possibly accuse you of fraud since you appear like a person, have a male identify, and nothing about you means that you must have a driver’s license indicating you’re a girl.
That is the dwelling nightmare for transgender folks in Kansas, the place a brand new regulation abruptly took impact in late February. On March 10, a Kansas court docket refused to impose a short lived block on the regulation, saying the transgender people who challenged the regulation beneath the state’s structure had not proven they wanted emergency aid. Asserting that transgender Kansas wouldn’t be instantly weak, the court docket wrote that “the vast majority of Kansans are tolerant, understanding, accepting and generally supportive of each other,” an astonishing assertion that means the rights of transgender folks rely not on the regulation however the tolerance of their neighbors.
The regulation’s sweeping modifications revoke drivers licenses and start certificates that transgender folks had up to date to replicate their gender identification — updates that the state had permitted for a few years. The regulation additionally prohibits transgender folks from utilizing loos in public buildings that align with their gender identification and emboldens bounty hunters by inviting them to sue any transgender one who enters the “wrong” restroom.
This would possibly appear like unusual culture-war politics, however what’s taking place is much extra threatening — not only for transgender folks however for everybody. Legislation is getting used to whip up anger towards transgender folks by blaming them for an array of normal societal considerations — from sexual abuse to fraud, from faculty shootings to nationwide safety threats. Legislation is meant to repair actual issues. When governments inform us it’s okay to make use of regulation to focus on one group of individuals, there’s little cause to suppose it can minimize itself off from focusing on others.
Kansas is much from alone in utilizing its legal guidelines to cordon off transgender folks. When the Supreme Court docket upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming healthcare final June, the state had 14 different restrictions on transgender folks both proposed or enacted into regulation.
In line with the Anti-Trans Invoice Tracker, lawmakers launched over 1000 payments to limit the transgender folks in 2025, and they’re on their strategy to breaking that file this 12 months. The Trump Administration has likewise relentlessly used its energy — from govt orders to company enforcement — to reverse present protections, add new types of discrimination, and intimidate states which are making an attempt to guard their very own transgender residents.
Normally, scapegoating occurs when the media and a society’s leaders unfold a story that blames a bunch for no matter’s troubling the general public. Legislation then follows up by codifying public antagonism towards the group.
However right here, regulation is within the lead. Nobody — not the general public, not authorities businesses, not even lawmakers — have been reporting issues arising from transgender folks having correct drivers licenses or passports. On the contrary, requiring a transgender man to have an “F” on his identification paperwork not solely insults his dignity, but additionally creates confusion and hazard as a result of the license now not matches the particular person it belongs to.
That is authorized scapegoating at work. We’re seeing, in real-time, using regulation to normalize the concept of controlling a weak group, and we’re being instructed that this authorized management is each “common sense” and needed for the well being and well-being of our communities and nation.
On this manner, authorized scapegoating of transgender folks and others exposes a urgent query: Can our democratic processes stop regulation from getting used to inflame and implement hostility towards weak teams? On the finish of the day, every of us is weak in a technique or one other. To guard each our households and our nation, it’s time to look previous the inflammatory headlines about transgender folks, immigrants, and others, and oppose this use of regulation that followers hostile flames and places us all in danger.
Suzanne B. Goldberg is a professor at Columbia Legislation Faculty and director of the college’s sexuality and gender regulation clinic.
