Several U.S.
states are allowing their non-binary
residents, who don’t identify as male or female, to obtain identity documents
that accurately reflect their gender identity.
Over the
past year and a half, several states have adopted policies that allow their residents
to obtain a Driver’s License or State ID that identifies them as non-binary.
Jurisdictions that have or will soon have these policies in place include
Oregon, Washington D.C., California, Maine, Minnesota, Arkansas, and Colorado.
On June 15,
2017, Oregon
became the first state in the country to adopt a policy that allows its
residents to obtain a Driver’s License or State ID with an “X” gender marker,
which stands for either non-binary or unspecified.
The policy was approved by
Oregon’s state Transportation Commission and went into effect in early July
2017.
While Oregon
was the first U.S. jurisdiction to approve a policy allowing its residents to
obtain non-binary State IDs, Washington
D.C.
was the first to begin issuing them.
Washington D.C. issued its first
non-binary Driver’s Licenses June 27, 2017, after its Mayor announced the
policy the previous week.
California
Governor Jerry Brown signed a law on Oct. 15, 2017 that will allow people
applying for a Driver’s License or ID to be identified as male, female, or
non-binary.
That part of the law will be implemented Jan. 1, 2019.
The office
of Maine’s
Secretary of State released a press release June 11, 2018, which states that in
July 2019, the state will allow residents to obtain Driver’s Licenses and IDs with an “X” gender marker.
In the meantime, stickers for State
IDs will be available that read, “Gender has been changed to X — Non-binary.”
Minnesota
began using a new driver’s license software in early
October that allows residents to select an “X” gender marker.
Arkansas
issued gender-neutral state IDs to at least two people in October.
The Director
of Communications for the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration
told “Into,” a news website that
covers LGBT issues, that the IDs were issued pursuant to a policy that was
implemented by a former state official in December 2010.
That policy allows
people to change the gender on their driver’s license, “as requested, no
questions asked, no documentation required.”
Into reported that the 2010 policy change was adopted without a
formal announcement.
In November,
the Denver Post reported that the Colorado
Department of Revenue, which oversees the Division of Motor Vehicles, had decided
to allow residents to use an “X” gender marker on their Driver’s Licenses
beginning Nov. 30.
The Department’s Executive Director told the newspaper that
the policy change was adopted in part because Colorado residents have filed
lawsuits, against other government agencies, to change their sex or gender
markers on official documents.
In one of
those cases, Colorado resident Dana Zzyym sued the U.S. State Department to receive a passport with an “X” gender marker.
In September, a federal
judge ruled
the State Department’s gender marker policy, which only allows for a male or
female gender marker, violated the Administrative Procedure Act, a law that governs how federal agencies adopt rules and regulations.
The judge
ordered the State Department to issue Dana a passport with an X gender marker.
The U.S. State Department has appealed the judge’s ruling.
Given the pace
of these changes, it's likely that more states will soon adopt similar
policies that will allow their non-binary residents to obtain State
IDs that accurately reflect their gender identity.
