NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — After transitioning seven years ago, Ray Holloman was excited to update his driver's license.
"So it was just really powerful to know that I had an identification document that I could show to anybody and not be worried about having to answer 75 other questions by showing my identification," Holloman, who is the Chair of the Tennessee Transgender Task Force, said.
But a new law taking effect in Tennesseedefines a person's 'sex' as 'determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth'. This means transgender Tennesseans cannot change the gender marker on their state ID if does not match their birth certificate.
"What's going to happen for people that have already changed their documentation and they need to go renew it?" Holloman said.
That's just one of the many questions opponents have surrounding the new law.
"For someone that's trans, it can mean that they end up being wrongly detained. It can mean that in a criminal justice system they are wrongly prosecuted, or it can mean that their marriage license doesn't match what it actually should — that it misrepresents the relationship they have as well," Education Manager for the TN Equality Project, Jace Wilder, said.
Wilder believes the bill unfairly targets the trans and intersex community.
"Having that sex marker be incorrect, it creates this idea of deviance and of lying, or being someone who is inherently criminal," he said.
A statefiscal review committee found the new law could also cost Tennessee millions of dollars in federal funding from the Department of Education and Department of Health.
Wilder predicts the new law will face challenges in court.
"This is a very clear First Amendment issue," he said. "This is a clear Fourteenth Amendment issue."
But there are still things that are not clear, like what will happen to Tennesseans who already changed the gender marker on their state IDs and how the law will be enforced. These are questions that only time will tell as it takes effect in Tennessee.
