Kansas goddamn.
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@futurebird my best guess, the list is compiled from historical records of which Kansas residents have gotten the gender marker changed on their ID.
Monstrous regardless.
There are people who are cis who have had the gender marker changed on their IDs to correct administrative errors.
They have gotten caught up in the current anti-trans moral panic too.
From Arizona last year: https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/investigations/birth-certificate-controversy-keeps-mesa-14-year-old-off-boys-basketball-team
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@futurebird I was wondering this too yesterday: how did they know to whom to send these letters? I suppose they have a record if you changed your license gender marker, but this seems broader than that. Creepy.
No, that's correct (I'm a KS resident)--the DMV records show which licenses previously had the gender info changed, same for the birth certificate data with another agency.
The KS Supreme Court had previously ruled that changing one's gender on gov records had to be allowed, and this new law apparently does what's required to legally ban it again. While several other states also ban this, KS is the first state to claw back previously issued DLs and birth certificates.
BTW They sent the letters out on the 23rd and the law took effect immediately on the 26th with no grace period to allow people to comply, so they now do not have a valid driver's license.
Driving without a valid license carries a fine and possible jail time. There is no doubt they deliberately wanted to punish trans people who had changed their DL, by making it impossible to drive legally until they get a new DL, which takes time to process.
(paywalled but can be bypassed by going into Reader view): https://www2.ljworld.com/news/state-region/2026/feb/23/thousands-of-kansas-drivers-licenses-birth-certificates-set-to-become-invalid-this-week-as-new-transgender-law-takes-effect/
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No, that's correct (I'm a KS resident)--the DMV records show which licenses previously had the gender info changed, same for the birth certificate data with another agency.
The KS Supreme Court had previously ruled that changing one's gender on gov records had to be allowed, and this new law apparently does what's required to legally ban it again. While several other states also ban this, KS is the first state to claw back previously issued DLs and birth certificates.
BTW They sent the letters out on the 23rd and the law took effect immediately on the 26th with no grace period to allow people to comply, so they now do not have a valid driver's license.
Driving without a valid license carries a fine and possible jail time. There is no doubt they deliberately wanted to punish trans people who had changed their DL, by making it impossible to drive legally until they get a new DL, which takes time to process.
(paywalled but can be bypassed by going into Reader view): https://www2.ljworld.com/news/state-region/2026/feb/23/thousands-of-kansas-drivers-licenses-birth-certificates-set-to-become-invalid-this-week-as-new-transgender-law-takes-effect/
@leadore @futurebird Lea do you think they also scooped up transfolk from other states who had valid ID and who had earlier move into KS? Or is this totally a matter of what can be seen in KS govt. records?
Really shitty thing to do. Serves only to endanger people.
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Don't get it twisted this attack on trans people in Kansas (how did they identify the people they sent those letters to? They have a list, the monsters.) is a trial, a test. Let them get away with it they will move on to the next smallest group they feel they could target without public backlash.
That is how this works.
@futurebird We should not miss the fact that one of the forces driving this (there is more than one) is religious fundamentalism. I grew up in that world and I recognize it when I see it. The strong campaign against all LGBTQ rights in a place like Uganda was created and pushed along by American fundamentalists. They tried their insidious agenda elsewhere first, before bringing it home. If you want to know what's in store, look to a place like Uganda.
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@leadore @futurebird Lea do you think they also scooped up transfolk from other states who had valid ID and who had earlier move into KS? Or is this totally a matter of what can be seen in KS govt. records?
Really shitty thing to do. Serves only to endanger people.
Since they don't have authority over what other states do or what other state's licenses show, this should only be relevant to KS licenses and KS government records. At least I haven't heard or read anything indicating otherwise.
BUT another thing to be aware of is that this bill also bans anyone from using a bathroom marked as for other than one's gender assigned at birth. IMO this is just as bad if not worse. I expect bad things to happen because there are always those people out there who want to make bad things happen.
I was actually surprised to learn that the bill was going to invalidate documents because it was always called "the bathroom bill" and all I ever read or heard about it was about the bathroom aspect of it. I don't think I ever once heard anything about driver's licenses and birth certificates being invalidated.
It's all about taking away trans rights and women's rights and implementing christian nationalism.
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The GOVERNMENT will tell you (yes you) how to be your gender correctly.
That's all this is. It's bullshit.
@futurebird this shit is exactly why we threw bricks at stonewall
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I'm also very curious if any cis people got the letter by mistake. It seems likely.
Nearly all of the people who have been harassed in public over restrooms rules tend to be cis women who look a little butch or like a bowtie or something.
This isn't a flaw it's a feature. Because part of the purpose is to make a gender dress and behavior code for adults.
No men shall wear pink or nail polish. No women shall have whiskers on their chin or leave the house without a layer of foundation.
@futurebird
I expect they kept track of people who have asked to have it changed in the past. -
Don't get it twisted this attack on trans people in Kansas (how did they identify the people they sent those letters to? They have a list, the monsters.) is a trial, a test. Let them get away with it they will move on to the next smallest group they feel they could target without public backlash.
That is how this works.
@futurebird@sauropods.winHow How fascism works
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There are people who are cis who have had the gender marker changed on their IDs to correct administrative errors.
They have gotten caught up in the current anti-trans moral panic too.
From Arizona last year: https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/investigations/birth-certificate-controversy-keeps-mesa-14-year-old-off-boys-basketball-team
Sorry, are we in a cartoon? Is this world actually an early Nickelodeon toon and this whole timeline is a prelude to this fantastical premise?
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Are you an "LGB" person ?
Are you enjoying an upstanding gay marriage with a white picket fence?
Are you a black American (oh wow) but not (oh no no) an immigrant ?Are you reading the room ?
We're next! We are next.
@futurebird … Yup, and following those groups (or interleaved) it will be Jews, Women (all Women: in this eschatology they're just livestock for breeding), non-Christian (the right kind of Christian) men, and political dissidents.
If they get their way, the USA after the Great Downsizing will have about a third of its current population, and the electorate will be less than 10% of that because the rest will be chattels of one type or another.
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@futurebird … Yup, and following those groups (or interleaved) it will be Jews, Women (all Women: in this eschatology they're just livestock for breeding), non-Christian (the right kind of Christian) men, and political dissidents.
If they get their way, the USA after the Great Downsizing will have about a third of its current population, and the electorate will be less than 10% of that because the rest will be chattels of one type or another.
@cstross @futurebird
Speaking of electorate, cancelling people's driving licenses is an attack on that now, isn't it -
@futurebird … Yup, and following those groups (or interleaved) it will be Jews, Women (all Women: in this eschatology they're just livestock for breeding), non-Christian (the right kind of Christian) men, and political dissidents.
If they get their way, the USA after the Great Downsizing will have about a third of its current population, and the electorate will be less than 10% of that because the rest will be chattels of one type or another.
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@Firlefanz @futurebird They're already doing it. Look at Reform UK policies if you want to see it happening in English. (I'm sure there are German examples too.)
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@futurebird … Yup, and following those groups (or interleaved) it will be Jews, Women (all Women: in this eschatology they're just livestock for breeding), non-Christian (the right kind of Christian) men, and political dissidents.
If they get their way, the USA after the Great Downsizing will have about a third of its current population, and the electorate will be less than 10% of that because the rest will be chattels of one type or another.
@cstross @futurebird the question is will the utter fucking cis-white heterosexual idiots figure out that this is the plan.
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@cstross @futurebird the question is will the utter fucking cis-white heterosexual idiots figure out that this is the plan.
@cstross @futurebird also, Black people in the US will not accept this white christian ethnostate nonsense.
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@Firlefanz @futurebird They're already doing it. Look at Reform UK policies if you want to see it happening in English. (I'm sure there are German examples too.)
Most definitely, the AfD is just biding its time until our conservative party drops into their laps. Our current chancellor is a weak fool with more ego than sense.
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@cstross @futurebird the question is will the utter fucking cis-white heterosexual idiots figure out that this is the plan.
When all of the women are either struggling housekeepers or obedient wives. When all of the men are either too poor and overworked to think about anything political or safe in their all white christian men's only board rooms new targets will still be needed.
Do you not like going to church? Do you want to listen to the wrong music? Think a tattoo is nice? Do you like foreign cartoons from Japan?
The only person who might be safe is Ted Cruz. Maybe.
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When all of the women are either struggling housekeepers or obedient wives. When all of the men are either too poor and overworked to think about anything political or safe in their all white christian men's only board rooms new targets will still be needed.
Do you not like going to church? Do you want to listen to the wrong music? Think a tattoo is nice? Do you like foreign cartoons from Japan?
The only person who might be safe is Ted Cruz. Maybe.
@futurebird @emma I think it can get so much worse than that: so much worse that I've fled screaming from writing dystopian political satire back to the consolatory certainties of space opera (dominated by degenerate, cruel, aristocrats with punchable faces—but the faces are at least punchable, unlike an LLM directed by Palantir).
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When all of the women are either struggling housekeepers or obedient wives. When all of the men are either too poor and overworked to think about anything political or safe in their all white christian men's only board rooms new targets will still be needed.
Do you not like going to church? Do you want to listen to the wrong music? Think a tattoo is nice? Do you like foreign cartoons from Japan?
The only person who might be safe is Ted Cruz. Maybe.
@futurebird @emma @cstross they might off him when they remember his name is Rafael. At some point, his utter debasement might not be enough to cover for not having a white-enough name. Also, nobody likes the little shit.
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@futurebird @emma @cstross they might off him when they remember his name is Rafael. At some point, his utter debasement might not be enough to cover for not having a white-enough name. Also, nobody likes the little shit.
@futurebird @emma @cstross also, in a pugilistic culture, the guy who flip-flops (he was Never Trump for about 30 seconds) and won’t stand up for his own (wife and kids called ugly, crickets from this dude) isn’t going to fair well, long term.
