District of Columbia (DC) residents now have three gender identification options to choose from when visiting the Department of Motorized Vehicles (DMV): “male,” “female,” and the gender-neutral option “X.”
This makes DC among the first jurisdictions in the country to offer a non-binary gender option on licenses and ID cards.
Eve Zhurbinskiy, a member of DC’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission, applauds the move.
“The appeal is that there are folks who identify as non-binary — a completely valid identity — and they feel the government doesn’t respect them by making them choose a gender they don’t identify with,” she told Red Alert Politics.
“I think this change is especially welcome for intersex people — many of whom were assigned a gender at birth that is in conflict with their actual identity… This change affords a measure of respect for non-binary and intersex people without actually harming anyone,” she continued.
Nic Sakurai, a DC resident who identifies as neither sex, told local outlet dcist, “It’s having my government recognize and not erase me. It’s about feeling like I exist and that what’s on my ID document is not false.”
“Being legitimized, being allowed to feel that you exist to your government, to me is such an important thing. It has practical impacts, but it also has very important symbolic impacts,” Sakurai added.
In an interview last week, DC mayor Muriel Bowser expressed her excitement about the third gender identification availability. “We’re always looking for how government agencies could be more inclusive,” she said. “”It’s just another great way to recognize our D.C. values.”
Not everyone is happy with the change, however.
“The purpose of listing sex on an ID is as a characteristic to help verify the holder is who they claim to be,” another DC resident, who requested to remain anonymous, told Red Alert. “Listing the sex as ‘X’ would hinder that purpose.”
DC isn’t the only jurisdiction to sanction this change. Effective July 1, Oregon will follow suit and become the first state to offer a gender-neutral option at the DMV.
