Sunday, June 18, 2017

Leading The Way

Oregon just became the first state to have a third option for gender on driver licenses, F, M, or X.
Oregon becomes first state to add gender-neutral option on driver’s licenses
PBS Newshour
By Corinne Segal
June 15, 2017

Oregon officials voted Thursday to add a gender-neutral option on state IDs, making it the first state in the country to recognize non-binary people on their driver’s licenses.

The unanimous decision by the Oregon Transportation Commission is the final step in a year-long process that began in June 2016, when Portland resident Jamie Shupe became the first legally non-binary person — identifying as neither male nor female — in the country.

The option, which will be available starting July 3, will make a difference for non-binary and transgender people for whom using an ID marked “M” or “F” is inaccurate or even dangerous, advocates say.

“I think this will make a real difference in people’s lives, and I think it is a great step for removing even more barriers,” said Amy Herzfeld-Copple, co-director of LGBTQ advocacy group Basic Rights Oregon.
As more and more people identify as non-binary I think this is a good option but I do have some reservations in how other states will deal with the Oregon license and as someone on the internet pointed out, how will states like North Carolina and Texas handle non-binary people? Will they face more discrimination?

So what do you think?



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3 comments:

  1. Connie6/18/17, 11:23 AM

    I'm in favor of dropping the gender marker altogether. It is used by the government to categorize us, roughly in half. It certainly has nothing to do with driving a car! With computers, the information authorities can obtain from our individual license numbers is readily available to them, so, even if gender was important for some particular instance, they could get it almost immediately, anyway. A gender markers is really no more than a profiling tool.

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  2. Anonymous6/18/17, 2:28 PM

    Do you not realize how you have fabulously succeeded only in further "othering" yourself?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Diana_CT6/18/17, 4:14 PM

    Dear Anonymous
    You live in the past; you only think in the gender binary but nature is not binary. For me and many of the young people coming out you are seen as a dinosaur.
    It is the youth that are leading the way in realizing that they don't have to fit in a box.

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