Professor X
February 14, 2019 2:29 PM Subscribe
What are the downsides to having a non-binary gender indicator on one's driver's license?
I live in Oregon, where I can change my driver's license gender indicator to "X" by filling out a form and paying for a replacement license. I have wanted to do this since the option became available, and now I live in the state's biggest, bluest city again, I think it's time. I want to make sure there aren't reasons not to do this that I'm missing. Personal experiences would be helpful.
Snowflakes:
- I'm a middle-class, late 30s, white, AFAB person, and I look it. I have unambiguously female-gendered first and middle names that I'm not planning to change.
- I don't have current plans to change my appearance much or talk about my gender identity at work. I am employed by a public university in a unionized job, so I don't anticipate employment consequences anyhow. The friends I've told have been supportive.
- I have a passport. I imagine I will want to bring this when I fly or otherwise may have to meet federal ID requirements? Are rental car places going to be jerks about my license?
- If my non-binary gender indicator causes unanticipated problems, I imagine I can change back by getting another replacement license and bringing my passport to confirm my assigned gender?
I live in Oregon, where I can change my driver's license gender indicator to "X" by filling out a form and paying for a replacement license. I have wanted to do this since the option became available, and now I live in the state's biggest, bluest city again, I think it's time. I want to make sure there aren't reasons not to do this that I'm missing. Personal experiences would be helpful.
Snowflakes:
- I'm a middle-class, late 30s, white, AFAB person, and I look it. I have unambiguously female-gendered first and middle names that I'm not planning to change.
- I don't have current plans to change my appearance much or talk about my gender identity at work. I am employed by a public university in a unionized job, so I don't anticipate employment consequences anyhow. The friends I've told have been supportive.
- I have a passport. I imagine I will want to bring this when I fly or otherwise may have to meet federal ID requirements? Are rental car places going to be jerks about my license?
- If my non-binary gender indicator causes unanticipated problems, I imagine I can change back by getting another replacement license and bringing my passport to confirm my assigned gender?
It may cause your car insurance premium to go up.
May cause confusion during a traffic stop, if it's the first X the cop has seen on a license, but somebody has to be the first.
posted by w0mbat at 3:44 PM on February 14, 2019
May cause confusion during a traffic stop, if it's the first X the cop has seen on a license, but somebody has to be the first.
posted by w0mbat at 3:44 PM on February 14, 2019
I don't live in a state where this is an option, but I've thought about what I'll do if my state makes it an option. There are concerns I have that are specific to me as a trans person, who might someday want to be able to "prove" to some official's satisfaction that I don't belong to my birth gender. But with the transition-related stuff set aside, my biggest concern would be that it's not clear yet how people will interpret the X.
Will a cop who sees it on my DL think "This person is refusing to tell me their sex or gender"? Or "This person is loudly announcing to me something about their sex or gender"? And if the second, will they take the thing I'm announcing to be "I'm trans" or "I'm genderqueer" or "I'm intersex" or "I'm preop/postop/nonop" or "I'm filthy genderscum plotting to destroy everything you love" or what? Some sets of answers to those questions would make me excited about getting the X, some would make me actively opposed to getting it — and since nobody really seems to have a clear sense yet of how straight people interpret it, that makes it hard to feel compellingly one way or the other.
I think it's reasonable for other people to care less about the ambiguity than I do. Maybe the X feels so congruent to you that it's worth dealing with the uncertainty about how people will take it. Or maybe you have a political interest in normalizing gender-neutral records, and so being unsure how people will take it is a kind of activist work for you. Or maybe you're happy with all the interpretations you can imagine coming up in practice, or etc etc etc. But, for me, that's the thing that would give me pause.
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:11 PM on February 14, 2019 [5 favorites]
Will a cop who sees it on my DL think "This person is refusing to tell me their sex or gender"? Or "This person is loudly announcing to me something about their sex or gender"? And if the second, will they take the thing I'm announcing to be "I'm trans" or "I'm genderqueer" or "I'm intersex" or "I'm preop/postop/nonop" or "I'm filthy genderscum plotting to destroy everything you love" or what? Some sets of answers to those questions would make me excited about getting the X, some would make me actively opposed to getting it — and since nobody really seems to have a clear sense yet of how straight people interpret it, that makes it hard to feel compellingly one way or the other.
I think it's reasonable for other people to care less about the ambiguity than I do. Maybe the X feels so congruent to you that it's worth dealing with the uncertainty about how people will take it. Or maybe you have a political interest in normalizing gender-neutral records, and so being unsure how people will take it is a kind of activist work for you. Or maybe you're happy with all the interpretations you can imagine coming up in practice, or etc etc etc. But, for me, that's the thing that would give me pause.
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:11 PM on February 14, 2019 [5 favorites]
I also live somewhere that recently implemented this and have been considering it. Some items from my own 'con' list:
- Will I be raising the risk of harassment/assault when showing the police or other officials my ID? In my case, this is a risk I already run and have already experienced because of my gender presentation/unisex name and race, but I know that putting it in writing means that I don't have the option of hoping I'm just dismissed as an unfashionable woman.
- Will my ID be accepted in other parts of my country that do not have an X option? If not, what's the plan for getting home if my primary ID is confiscated by someone who doesn't think it's valid?
- What will I do if I want or need to travel internationally? Am I okay cutting myself off from countries that cannot accept this designation? What would the plan be if it looked like I could travel somewhere with my ID and then got detained once I was there?
- Will I regret having my gender identity registered with the government if my country takes a fascist turn? My grandmother and her family didn't think there was a problem with their government knowing they were Jewish until there was.
- If there's some sort of other sudden emergency in my region or country that requires me to evacuate or seek refuge in another jurisdiction, will I be left behind because some computer system has no X option and my ID doesn't match my application?
I'm genderqueer, and when this option was first announced I actually teared up because of right and validating it would feel to have 'F' removed from my identification. But personally, with what I see going on around me, I'm reluctantly having to say no. Not now, at least.
posted by northernish at 4:19 PM on February 14, 2019 [17 favorites]
- Will I be raising the risk of harassment/assault when showing the police or other officials my ID? In my case, this is a risk I already run and have already experienced because of my gender presentation/unisex name and race, but I know that putting it in writing means that I don't have the option of hoping I'm just dismissed as an unfashionable woman.
- Will my ID be accepted in other parts of my country that do not have an X option? If not, what's the plan for getting home if my primary ID is confiscated by someone who doesn't think it's valid?
- What will I do if I want or need to travel internationally? Am I okay cutting myself off from countries that cannot accept this designation? What would the plan be if it looked like I could travel somewhere with my ID and then got detained once I was there?
- Will I regret having my gender identity registered with the government if my country takes a fascist turn? My grandmother and her family didn't think there was a problem with their government knowing they were Jewish until there was.
- If there's some sort of other sudden emergency in my region or country that requires me to evacuate or seek refuge in another jurisdiction, will I be left behind because some computer system has no X option and my ID doesn't match my application?
I'm genderqueer, and when this option was first announced I actually teared up because of right and validating it would feel to have 'F' removed from my identification. But personally, with what I see going on around me, I'm reluctantly having to say no. Not now, at least.
posted by northernish at 4:19 PM on February 14, 2019 [17 favorites]
I'm nonbinary but also a 2nd generation Chinese American and I'll be keeping my assigned sex marker. I have no interest in adding complication to my life due to the potential for fascism and a misuse for my information, and I also don't like the idea of having to update all of my documents to reflect it. I think it's cool for people to be identified properly as an option but I already grew up with being nonbinary and not expecting institutions to recognize it properly, so it's not a huge incentive for me to change. Can't say for others.
posted by yueliang at 5:43 PM on February 14, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by yueliang at 5:43 PM on February 14, 2019 [4 favorites]
I’ve had my license this way since September and have yet to run into any issues. It feels nice to carry around an official government document that acknowledges my gender identity. My only concern would be the potential for fascist nonsense, but I decided I didn’t want to let fascist idiots pre emptively drive me into not making a small change to my DL that makes me very happy—everyone’s comfort level and feelings are different, though.
You should be able to just as easily change the marker back with a replacement license as you can change it to X now. Same form. One thing I ran into at the DMV was the clerk not really paying attention to that part of the form and giving me the marker I was assigned at birth, which I had to circle back and correct. It gave me a second chance to take my license photo, yay!
posted by Gymnopedist at 5:51 PM on February 14, 2019
You should be able to just as easily change the marker back with a replacement license as you can change it to X now. Same form. One thing I ran into at the DMV was the clerk not really paying attention to that part of the form and giving me the marker I was assigned at birth, which I had to circle back and correct. It gave me a second chance to take my license photo, yay!
posted by Gymnopedist at 5:51 PM on February 14, 2019
Want to add—politically speaking I’m basically an anarchist and don’t particularly care if the government believes I exist unless it affects me in practical terms, and yet having an X put on my license felt really nice.
posted by Gymnopedist at 6:03 PM on February 14, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Gymnopedist at 6:03 PM on February 14, 2019 [3 favorites]
Oregon will require a Real ID for traveling on flights (I think they extended to mid-2020 on that tho) so you'll have to get a new ID soon anyway if you travel and don't want to take your passport with you. I say if it makes you happy, change it. I doubt you will have any serious repercussions, maaaybe if you travel to a super conservative state. Possible, but unlikely even there.
I don't really have a horse in this race as a person who does not identify as non-binary, but I am all for people exercising their rights to be identified as they wish, because you can now, and that's a good thing.
posted by ananci at 7:17 PM on February 14, 2019
I don't really have a horse in this race as a person who does not identify as non-binary, but I am all for people exercising their rights to be identified as they wish, because you can now, and that's a good thing.
posted by ananci at 7:17 PM on February 14, 2019
Nonbinary person here who does not live in a state that allows for the X. I'd be tempted to get it, because obvious reasons. It would feel really good.
BUT. As it stands now, I rely on my gendered ID for backup when I am forced to use gendered facilities (usually restrooms). Not that I've ever been asked to pull out an ID, but I think about it sometimes, as someone who is not just nonbinary but also genuinely androgynous enough in appearance to get dirty looks and comments in either bathroom. The opportunity for discrimination is pretty high, given official verification of one's transness. I'd worry about cops. I'd worry about TSA. I'd worry about a lot of things.
I'm sure I am on some sort of list of known deviants or whatever based on my medical transition, but if, as it sounds like, you aren't, it could be advisable to keep it that way.
posted by libraritarian at 6:10 AM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
BUT. As it stands now, I rely on my gendered ID for backup when I am forced to use gendered facilities (usually restrooms). Not that I've ever been asked to pull out an ID, but I think about it sometimes, as someone who is not just nonbinary but also genuinely androgynous enough in appearance to get dirty looks and comments in either bathroom. The opportunity for discrimination is pretty high, given official verification of one's transness. I'd worry about cops. I'd worry about TSA. I'd worry about a lot of things.
I'm sure I am on some sort of list of known deviants or whatever based on my medical transition, but if, as it sounds like, you aren't, it could be advisable to keep it that way.
posted by libraritarian at 6:10 AM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Update: I feel like an "X" better reflects my identity than an "F", this isn't just allyship/activism. I don't intend to switch back unless I run into significant problems - this isn't identity tourism. This is a gesture towards being more "out" that feels right to me.
Does anyone have experience with car insurance getting more expensive? I have a lengthy clean driving record.
posted by momus_window at 9:38 AM on February 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
Does anyone have experience with car insurance getting more expensive? I have a lengthy clean driving record.
posted by momus_window at 9:38 AM on February 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
momus_window—anecdotally, I have car insurance and it did not get more expensive. I haven’t heard of that happening to anyone, but if it’s a concern you might phone up your car insurance company.
posted by Gymnopedist at 1:13 PM on February 16, 2019
posted by Gymnopedist at 1:13 PM on February 16, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by geoff. at 2:34 PM on February 14, 2019