AUSTIN, Texas — Employees in the Texas Department of Public Safety were asked to provide a list of people who changed their sex on state documents in the past two years to the state attorney general’s office, according to the Washington Post.
The Post obtained DPS documents from the agency through a public records that show employees discussing the request. The records request was titled, “AG Request Sex Change Data” and “AG data request.”
“Need total number of changes from male to female and female to male for the last 24 months, broken down by month,” DPS’s driver license division chief told colleagues in an email on June 30, the Post reported. “We won’t need DL/ID numbers at first but may need to have them later if we are required to manually look up documents.”
When asked for records of the request on their end, the attorney general’s office said no such documents existed.
DPS Spokesman Travis Considine told the Post the request was “verbal” and said no list was turned over.
“Ultimately, our team advised the AG’s office the data requested neither exists nor could be accurately produced. Thus, no data of any kind was provided,” he said.
Paxton, a Republican who has long opposed expanded LGBTQ rights, was reelected to a third term in November.
Earlier this year, during the GOP primary election season, he issued a non-binding opinion stating that certain kinds of gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender youth could be considered child abuse. Citing this opinion, Gov. Greg Abbott directed Child Protective Services to investigate reports of any minors receiving such treatments. At least 11 investigations were launched, but most have been closed without any finding of child abuse. Several families sued to halt the investigations; those lawsuits are ongoing.
Paxton has also sued the Biden administration multiple times to halt federal policies meant to protect LGBTQ people in the workplace and the doctor’s office. This week, he celebrated winning a lawsuit that halted federal guidance that could have resulted in the state losing funds due to its stance on gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
