Transgender Wyoming residents will no longer be able to update the gender marker on their driver’s license due to a quiet behind the scenes change, Transistics reports.

While trans Wyomingites have been able to obtain accurate driver’s licenses in the state since at least 2019, a combination of laws and policies means that is no longer the case. The Wyoming Department of Transportation (DOT) will now require an amended birth certificate to update a gender marker, rather than simply providing letters from a medical provider — a recent state law has made it impossible for trans people to get an amended birth certificate.

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While Kansas invalidated trans drivers’ licenses with a well-publicized bill and letters to residents telling them their licenses were revoked, Wyoming’s changes have quietly occurred behind the scenes. A series of dominoes fell without people noticing, leading to this situation.

Back in 2020, the Wyoming Supreme Court heard a case from a trans woman, known as MH, who wanted to update the gender marker on her birth certificate. In a 4-1 decision, the court ruled in MH’s favor, saying that lower courts could hear and grant petitions for such updates to birth certificates.

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However, in March 2025, the Wyoming legislature passed what they called the “What is a Woman Act,” a dog whistle phrase popularized by the anti-trans right-wing commentator Matt Walsh. The bill passed both the state House and Senate, but Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon (R) allowed it to become law without signing it.

While Gordon had signed other anti-trans laws that year, he said this one lacked clarity and “begs questions of necessity and issues of practical administration,” adding, “However, I suspect this Act was not drafted with keen legal objectives in mind as much as it was to scratch a welcome national political itch.”

The “What is a Woman Act” is a sex-definitions bill, which follows the concepts outlines in Trump’s infamous “two sexes” executive order. Those definitions are rooted in bioessentialism and tie male and female gender entirely to the presence of certain reproductive organs, with the definition of a female reading: “A person who has, had, will have or would have had, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports and utilizes eggs for fertilization.” The law also requires that any collection of vital statistics identifies people by their gender assigned at birth.

A trans woman in the state, known as KR, who had legally changed her name in 2021 and had gender-affirming surgeries in 2023, filed to update her gender marker in 2025. That triggered a challenge to the “What is a Woman Act” and drew the attention of Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz. Kautz had previously served as a judge on the Wyoming Supreme Court until 2024, and in that 4-1 ruling from 2020, he was the lone dissenting voice against amending MH’s gender marker.

A Wyoming District Court Judge denied KR’s request for a gender marker correction, citing the What is a Woman Act and old vital statistics laws. KR is now appealing that decision to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

As of March, Wyoming has adopted a permanent policy that the state agency will not update gender markers on birth certificates for trans people, only allowing corrections for clerical errors and missing information.

Aleksandra Vaca of Transistics has confirmed with Wyoming DOT employees that a change has taken place in their policies for updating gender markers, which will make it impossible for anyone who has not already updated their birth certificate before the “What is a Woman Act” came into effect. Additionally, Wyoming will reportedly retroactively change gender markers on driver’s licenses for trans people when it comes time for renewal, unless they were previously able to update their birth certificates.

Wyoming is the latest in a string of states making it impossible to update gender markers on crucial ID, which leaves trans people vulnerable to being outed in a wealth of situations. Notably, Texas’ Department of Public Safety stopped allowing gender marker updates, even with a court order, after an order issued by the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Wyoming has become a hotbed of anti-trans legislation and cases in recent years. Last year, its legislature passed a collegiate sports ban, two bans on trans access to restrooms and single-sex spaces, and a bill preventing government agencies from requiring employees to use another employee’s correct pronouns.

Wyoming is also the site of an ongoing legal dispute over a Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority chapter whose sisters sued after a trans woman was allowed to join.

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