Last week, Renae Green was glancing over the latest version of Jamaica’s draft digital ID bill when she came across a section of text that made her uneasy.

Green, the executive director of the trans rights nonprofit TransWave Jamaica, had been following the twists and turns of a years-long political effort to roll out a digital ID system that would provide Jamaicans with a national identity card while collecting their personal information and biometric data. The latest attempt would require any Jamaican who wants to apply for an ID to give authorities documentation showing their sex assigned at birth, which would be displayed on the back of the card.

Green fears that this requirement could create considerable risks by “outing” trans Jamaicans who don’t identify with their sex assigned at birth, exposing them to possible discrimination and violence while they use the card in their daily lives. 

“For a lot of trans people who are in the process or have transitioned, they just want to be able to exist and go about their business. What that looks like for a lot of people is not having to disclose their trans status,” she said. “The bill opens us up to be outed.”