Brandyn Gallagher should be on the road right now. Instead, the 36-year-old, who has spent the last five years driving an 18-wheeler, is at home in northeast Arkansas looking for a new job.
Gallagher doesn’t want to give up trucking. They pivoted to the profession after working as a consultant for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and were happy it provided some financial stability to help pay off their student loans. But they are worried that a new state rule about gender markers on driver’s licenses might put them at risk when they’re on the road.
In March, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an emergency order eliminating the “X” gender-neutral marker option, which had been in place for 14 years. Gallagher has an X on their license to denote their identity as a trans and intersex person. The order also forces trans people to provide an amended birth certificate with their correct gender marker, which they can obtain only after getting a court order and presenting medical documentation of surgery, before they can change the gender marker on their license.