Trans people in Kansas are being ordered to surrender their drivers licenses

Comments

• multifariace@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  From an objective viewpoint I know these laws are being passed in the name of hate, but I wonder of there is a medical reason to have such information. However, it would be more appropriate on a carried medical emergency information card rather than ID as this information is often enough not helpful in proof of identity.

  If I ever have to get an ID in Kansas, I’ll make sure to flash my genitals as proof. And I won’t shower for the week prior.

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  • dev_null@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    From an objective standpoint, the driving license should have no indication of gender at all.

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  • fossilesque@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Don’t try to justify bigots.

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    • multifariace@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      This interpretation of my comment is far from accurate. But I should not expect less in this world of divisive ignorance.

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  • dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Hi!

    Trans person here.

    The answer to your question is no, there is no medical reason for the sex marker on the driver’s license.

    Assigned sex at birth is rarely relevant in medical contexts. A trans woman will need mammograms like cis women, and (assuming here that trans women are on estrogen) they metabolize drugs like cis women and basically all of their biology is like a cis woman who lacks a uterus and ovaries.

    A study from Oct 2025 found that within 12 months of taking HRT, trans people have a heart mass that matches their gender:

    The troponin threshold to predict cardiovascular events is lower for women due to the greater cardiac mass typically seen in men.

    Since estradiol and testosterone were not thought to directly impact cardiac mass, researchers expected that troponin would remain similar to individuals’ assigned gender at birth.

    However, they found the opposite to be true.

    The clinical research team found that troponin levels shifted towards the affirmed gender after 12 months of hormone therapy.

    Troponin decreased in transgender women to a level not statistically different from cisgender women, but which was 78% lower than in cisgender men.

    Similarly surprising, another recent study published in Oct 2025 found that on the molecular level hormones change the protein biomarkers in cells:

    erininthemorning.com/…/study-finds-trans-womens-b…

    “For transgender women, we found gender affirming hormone therapy alters the levels of many protein biomarkers,” Novakovic said, noting that this could impact risk assessments for things like autoimmune disease and heart conditions. Usually, these assessments factor in any number of variables, including sex as well as lifestyle or genetic components.

    “Feminizing GAHT [gender-affirming hormone therapy] skews the plasma proteome toward a cis-female profile,” the study concluded. It should be noted that people of any sex or gender can exhibit a vast and evolving spectrum of these biomarkers—there is no “one size fits all” model for biodiversity.

    The more evidence that is collected the more we realize that biological sex is not fixed but instead the human body is plastic and the sex really does change, so it’s not really an exaggeration to say that trans women are biologically female in most medically relevant contexts.

    The only exceptions I can think of are due to organs developing a certain way, e.g. trans men with a uterus still might technically have a rare chance of becoming pregnant or developing cervical cancers.

    On the flip side, in rare cases, a trans woman (esp. one who transitions late and has a family history of prostate cancer) might develop a prostate cancer (fun fact: cis women have an organ similar to a prostate called the Skene’s gland that, like the prostate, produces ejaculate; it’s not a male-only organ), so that is one difference - trans women might need prostate exams that cis women wouldn’t need.

    But for almost all medical contexts, trans people should be treated as their gender and not their assigned sex at birth.

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    • multifariace@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Thank you for an amazing response! Perspective and sources. You’re awesome.

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  • magic_smoke@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Yeah I’m capable of telling my doctor I’m trans, and if I feel like my country isn’t safe enough that should be my decision, not my governments.

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• unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  I used to run through kansas twice a week on us-54. Lmao not no more

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