Arkansas’ elimination of ‘X’ as option for sex on licenses and IDs endorsed by GOP lawmakers

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A predominantly Republican panel on Thursday endorsed an Arkansas agency’s elimination of “X” as an option alongside male and female on state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards, despite skepticism from Democratic lawmakers about the move.

The Arkansas Legislative Council’s executive subcommittee approved the emergency rules for the new policy announced this week removing an option that had been used by nonbinary and intersex residents. The new policy also makes it more difficult for transgender residents to change the sex listed on their IDs and licenses.

The agency said it was rescinding a practice implemented in 2010 that officials say conflicted with state law and had not gone through proper legislative approval.

“As I reviewed it, it became pretty clear to me that, one, it was really not lawfully authorized,” Finance and Administration Secretary Jim Hudson told the panel. “The second is it was inconsistent with statutory law and just commonsense public policy as well.”

Arkansas is the latest among Republican states to legally define sex as binary, which critics say is essentially erasing the existence of transgender and nonbinary people and creating uncertainty for intersex people — those born with physical traits that don’t fit typical definitions of male or female.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«READ MORE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> READ MORE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Arkansas stops offering ‘X’ as an alternative to male and female on driver’s licenses and IDs </bsp-custom-headline>