Texas Woman Denied Driver’s License Over Same-Sex Marriage

While Texas’ conservative leaders like Attorney General Greg Abbott and 63 GOP legislators have been busy defending Texas’ discriminatory ban on same-sex marriage and battling the freedom for loving Texas couples to marry, one Texas woman, Connie Wilson, was denied the right to obtain a drivers license because the legal name she took when she married her wife in California 9 years ago. From the Texas Observer story:

“I’ve been deprived the freedom to drive a vehicle once my current California driver’s license expires,” Wilson said. “I’m further being deprived the freedom to use air travel, make purchases that require a valid photo identification, seek medical attention for myself or my children, as well as other situations that would require proving who I am legally as an individual.”

Voting in Texas—another discriminatory legal battle currently being waged by Greg Abbott— also requires valid photo identification. By denying Texans like Ms. Wilson rights that include obtaining a valid photo ID, the state is effectively enforcing Jim Crow-era laws on the LGBT community.

“I still can’t believe I’m being met with all the roadblocks that I am,” Wilson said. “For the first time in my life, I in a minuscule way know what it feels like for a person who is undocumented, how terrifying it must be to function in day-to-day life. It terrifies me—I’m a U.S. citizen—the fact that I can’t get something that I’ve had all my life, that I assume is my right. My right was taken away.”

Tell Greg Abbott that you support loving Texas families who deserve the same rights as everyone else.