Last week, Razavi, who asked to be identified by his last name only, went to the Houston DPS office to change the name and sex on his Texas driver’s license. After transitioning to female a few years ago—and changing all legal documents accordingly—he said he’d realized he “would always be viewed as a second-class citizen.” So he detransitioned, and in March he obtained a court order from a district court in Travis County to change his license back. But after a new policy was quietly rolled out last week via an internal email, prompted by the office of the Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Texas Department of Public Safety will no longer accept a court order as a basis to change a person’s sex on their driver’s license. Razavi’s request was denied. “I am a biological male,” Razavi told Texas Monthly. “I’m six five with a beard and actual penis, but according to Ken Paxton, I am to remain legally a woman.”
Razavi, 41, showed up to the DPS office with a court order, obtained by Texas Monthly, that gave him permission to change his name back and to “go on living as a male again,” he said. He’d scheduled an appointment with DPS a month in advance and had taken the day off work as a director at a Houston hospital. “I sat down and the lady sat there for a very long time reading an email,” Razavi said. “And then, about ten minutes later, she got back and she said, ‘Sir, I’m sorry, we can’t do this.’ ”
The rep went on to explain, Razavi said, that employees had received an email directing them to put a hold on all sex marker changes. Razavi was stunned. Since detransitioning, he’d distanced himself from the LGBTQ community and news pertaining to trans rights, so he hadn’t heard of the DPS mandate. He asked to speak with a supervisor. When the supervisor came out, she collected his paperwork and “started walking to the back to scan it,” Razavi said. “I was like, ‘Where’s she going? Why is she taking that?’ And [the representative] just said, ‘It’s part of procedure.’ ”
In the email circulated throughout the agency, which KUT News obtained from an anonymous source, employees were instructed to disregard court orders such as the one Razavi supplied. “Effective immediately, August 20, 2024, the Department will not accept court orders or amended birth certificates issued that change the sex when it differs from documentation already on file,” the email stated. “For current DL/ID holders, the sex established at the time of original application and listed in the driver record will not be changed unless there was a clerical error.”
DPS remarked in a statement to Texas Monthly that its new policy was implemented in response to concerns raised by the office of the attorney general over the “validity” of court orders issued to change the sex of individuals in government records.
DPS employees were also instructed to send the names and identification numbers of Texans seeking to legally change the sex markers on their licenses to a specific email address, the Texas Tribune reported, reupping a similar, earlier policy in which Paxton told DPS employees to compile a list of individuals who’d changed their sex on state documents. It remains unclear what the state intends to do with this information.
“Now I’m on this tiny little list of people Ken Paxton has an agenda against,” said Razavi, who was born and raised in Texas. “It’s super scary.” (Paxton’s office did not respond to interview requests).
DPS did permit Razavi to change his photograph, for $11. However, it refused to let him change his name, since that request was tied to his petition to change his listed sex, even though name changes are a regular occurrence. “I’d have to ask them for another petition to even change my name separately,” Razavi said. “I feel like I was really denied my rights in this situation.” DPS issued Razavi a temporary driver’s license after his visit, dated August 23 of this year, on which his sex is still listed as female but his photo has been changed from the one used for a license issued in 2022. On a license issued in 2017, Razavi’s sex is listed as male. All three documents were viewed by Texas Monthly.
Whereas the DPS website previously provided information on how Texans could change their “Address and Zip Code, Name or Gender” on their driver’s license, according to an archived version of the website, it has since eliminated “gender” as a possible option.
Razavi worries too about the implications for his personal and professional life. The inability to change his license, he said, complicates his ability to change his other legal documentation—his bank records and his work badge, for example. “This is what Ken Paxton wants. He wants people to be their gender [assigned at birth],” said Razavi. “So I’m literally trying to be in compliance with what they want. And I’m stuck in this limbo now.”
Razavi says he decided to detransition when weighing social costs against personal happiness. Now, in attempting to comply with a mandate targeting transgender Texans, he is still facing similar hurdles. “I compare it to a balance scale—on one side, it is being happy about your gender. The other side of the scale is a pile of issues preventing you from living a productive and full life in contemporary society,” he said of his decision to detransition. “The scale weighed too much on the side of social dysfunction and collapsed.”
