Oregon Is Adding a Third Gender Option to Its Driver's Licenses
By Erin Reimel. Photos: Getty Images, Courtesy of Twitter.
Oregon has become the first state to allow gender non-conforming citizens to reject the binary boundaries of the male/female gender option on their driver's licenses. Instead, there will be a third option, "X," that will stand for "not specified." On Thursday, the Oregon Transportation Commission unanimously ruled that anyone who does not identify as male or female can change their license to reflect this beginning July 3rd.
This new rule comes one year after an Oregon judge allowed retired Army tank mechanic Jamie Shupe to legally identify as non-binary. "I very much plan to head to the nearest DMV and ask for that ID to be corrected on July 3," Shupe told Reuters after the new rule was passed. "And then I'll no doubt stand out front of the building, or sit in the car, and cry."
The new rule doesn't just help those who are non-binary feel seen, but it's an important safety measure that helps avoid misgendering residents.
“There’s a little more truth and justice in the world today,” Hayley Gorenberg, deputy legal director of Lambda Legal, an organization that advocates for the civil rights of the LGBTQ community, told the Associated Press. She explained that when the gender marker on an ID does not match the appearance of the person, often they “endure insults and psychological trauma that could largely be averted if they had an option to use a gender marker that does not contradict who they are.”
In March, Ontario, Canada, also passed a rule to allow X as a gender identification on ID cards. And California might soon become the second U.S. state to offer a non-binary option: on May 31, the California Senate passed a bill to add a third gender option for state IDs that's now awaiting a vote in the state Assembly. The California Family Council, a conservative Christian group, opposes it, arguing that “government documents need to reflect biological facts for identification,” according to the AP.
Back in Oregon, the timing of the ruling isn't lost on people. “It’s fitting that this is before us during Pride Week in Oregon and Pride Month around the country,” said Commissioner Sean O’Hollaren. “It’s something that we should do because it’s the right thing to do.”
This story originally appeared on Glamour.
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