SUMMARY
For nearly 30 years, transgender Tennessee residents could legally update the gender marker on their driver's licenses—a process that worked without incident and promoted public safety. In July 2023, the Department of Safety abruptly eliminated this established right by secretly issuing directive "DLP-302” to its employees.
The change wasn't announced publicly. It was discovered only through a public records request and was implemented without any of the legal protections Tennessee law requires for such significant changes to Department of Safety procedures.
The Department of Safety lacks any legal basis to eliminate these long-standing procedures. Tennessee law explicitly requires the Department to follow proper rulemaking procedures when changing documentation requirements (Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-50-321(b)) and mandates that any rules must promote the "safety and welfare" of drivers (Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-50-202(a)). DLP-302 violates both requirements.
ACLU-TN, along with Holland & Associates PC, filed a legal challenge against the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDSHS) to stop the unlawful directive. The case, Doe et al. v. Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security et al., seeks to ensure that transgender individuals are subject to the same legal protections as other Tennesseans.
CASE MILESTONES
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April 23, 2024 – ACLU-TN files lawsuit on behalf of Jane Doe, a transgender woman denied accurate ID documents by TDSHS.
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May–August 2024 – Plaintiff Chrissy Miller joins the case after TDSHS tries to revoke her already-updated driver’s license. The Davidson County Chancery Court blocks this action.
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September 2024 – A judge orders TDSHS to take any procedural steps it believes the law requires.
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January 2025 – TDSHS holds an administrative hearing and reaffirms its new directive to deny accurate IDs to transgender people.
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May 2025 – After TDSHS refuses to pause enforcement while the court reviews the case, ACLU-TN files new documents, urging the court to stop the unlawful bureaucratic barriers instituted by TDSHS that strip away the dignity, safety, and basic civil rights of transgender Tennesseans.
WHY IT MATTERS
Accurate identification documents protect everyone by ensuring people can participate fully in society, work, and contribute to their communities without fear of harassment or violence. Tennessee's administrative procedures law exists precisely to prevent government agencies from implementing major procedural changes that affect groups of people without transparency, public input, or legal justification.
When we allow government agencies to operate outside the law for some people, we weaken legal protections for everyone. This case is about ensuring government follows its own rules—a principle that protects all people regardless of who they are.
WHAT'S AT STAKE
The Department of Safety’s own mandate requires promoting public “safety and welfare.” However, the elimination of any process to obtain accurate identification makes every ID-required interaction for transgender people a potential source of discrimination, harassment, or violence.
- Increased danger and discrimination: When transgender people must show mismatched ID, it immediately outs them to strangers who may react with confusion and bias, which can lead to hostility or violence.
- Barriers to daily life: Everyday mundane interactions requiring identification—traveling, opening a bank account, renewing health insurance, applying for jobs, accessing healthcare, entering buildings, picking up packages, applying for services, voting—become potential crises when inaccurate ID immediately outs someone as transgender. Incorrect identification exposes people to a range of negative outcomes, from denial of employment, housing, and services, to harassment and physical violence.
- State-sanctioned stigma: When the government refuses to follow its own rules for a minority group, it sends a harmful message that the group is not worthy of legal protections the same way as everyone else. This type of government-sanctioned discrimination creates an environment where perpetrators feel justified in acting on anti-transgender hostility, fuels systemic exclusion, and denies transgender people basic human dignity.
This case is about more than identification documents. It’s about the fundamental freedom to live authentically and safely in Tennessee.
