Mississippi is latest state to advance trans driver’s licenses bill
Multiple bills about gender markers on IDs are rising (stock image via Getty Images)
Mississippi is set to become the latest state to restrict how transgender people can identify themselves on official documents.
Lawmakers passed SB 2322 on Monday (6 April), a bill that would require all driver’s licenses to reflect a person’s sex assigned at birth, regardless of legal gender changes. It follows similar bills in Kansas, after trans residents’ licenses were invalidated in March.
The legislation now awaits the signature of Gov. Tate Reeves, who is expected to sign it. If signed, the law will take effect on 1 July.
What is SB 2322?
SB 2322 would prevent transgender residents from updating their gender markers and invalidate court orders recognising gender changes for the purpose of issuing licenses.
While it wouldn’t immediately revoke existing IDs, like Kansas’ recently passed B 244 did, anyone renewing their license after the passage of this law would be forced to carry identification that doesn’t match their identity.
This shift could lead to forced outing and increased risk in everyday situations for trans people, like traffic stops, voting, or entering venues, as reported by Erin In The Morning on Substack.
Critics, including the ACLU of Mississippi, warn the bill could disproportionately impact both transgender people and immigrant communities, as SB 2322 also includes provisions affecting out-of-state licenses and requires cooperation with ICE in certain cases, tying together multiple areas of concern into a single policy.
The bill is part of a broader national trend of restrictions on transgender identification documents. If signed into law, Mississippi would join a growing number of states limiting or banning gender marker updates on driver’s licenses.
Similarly, Rod Hickman, who serves in the Mississippi State Senate, has slammed the move as “degrading”.
Writing for Mississippi Today, Hickman said: “There has been no showing that allowing individuals to have identification that reflects who they are creates any safety risk. This provision does not prevent fraud. It does not assist law enforcement in any meaningful way. It does not make a single Mississippian safer.
“More than that, it is degrading. It places people in situations where simply presenting identification can expose them to scrutiny, embarrassment or worse. When a person presents as one sex and his or her identification reflects another, it immediately calls the identity into question in settings where no such question should exist whether that is at a traffic stop, at a workplace, in a place of business or in any routine encounter that requires identification.”
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