For the first time, a federal appeals court heard arguments in a case involving accurate gender markers on IDs for transgender people, according to the ACLU.
In 2021, a federal appeals court ruled it was unconstitutional for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) to deny three transgender womenDarcy Corbitt, Destiny Clark and an unnamed plaintiffaccurate IDs because of a requirement to provide proof of specific medical interventions.
"I know who I am. Transgender people know who we are, that's not the issue," said Clark (she/her), a healthcare worker from Birmingham, in a press release. "The issue is getting the state to recognize our existence and just let us live without intruding into our private, medical records."
"Transgender and non-binary people in Alabama and states across the country are being put in a double bind: it is impossible to get gender-affirming care, but surgery 'proving' their gender is required for them to get the identification documents they need to live their lives," said Gabriel Arkles, senior counsel at Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF), who argued the case. "What the state is in effect doing is criminalizing being trans."
Attorneys from Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF), the American Civil Liberties Union Jon L. Stryker and Slobodan Randjelovic LGBTQ & HIV Project and the ACLU of Alabama are representing the plaintiffs.
This hearing has come as the Alabama Legislature is advancing anti-trans measures. Last week, lawmakers advanced legislation that would make it a crime for doctors to give transgender minors puberty-blockers, hormones or surgeries to help affirm their gender identity, NBC News noted. Also, NPR reported that state legislators recently approved legislation that would prohibit trans students from using school bathrooms and locker rooms that match their current gender identity