The Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled to eliminate the option for residents to use a neutral gender identification on their state ID cards, reinstating a state law that banned the use of “X” as an option for gender identification. This decision overturned a lower court’s block on the bill earlier this month, which had argued the ban would harm transgender residents.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, a Republican, lauded the ruling in a public statement. “I applaud the Arkansas Supreme Court’s decision staying the circuit court’s unlawful order and allowing the Department of Finance and Administration to bring its identification rules into compliance with state law,” Griffin said.
The Arkansas ACLU had sued to end the legislation this spring, resulting in the initial court order blocking the new rule.