Non-Binary Gender License Option Will Start Next Week

Courtesy D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles.

The D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles will begin offering a third choice for gender on licenses and identification cards: "X," designating a neutral or non-binary gender identity.

The change will go into effect on Tuesday, according to LaToya Foster, a spokesperson for Mayor Muriel Bowser. [update 6/22: The administration will make a formal announcement today]

If all goes to plan, that would make D.C. the first jurisdiction in the country to offer a non-binary gender option on licenses and ID cards—edging out Oregon by a few days. The state announced last week that it would made available starting on July 1, following a court decision last year that ruled that non-binary is a legal gender.

"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," says Nic Sakurai, a 36-year-old Washingtonian who identifies as agender. "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."

Under the new policy, applicants would self report their gender as M, F, or X rather than requiring a health provider to attest to it. "Self-reported gender markers are the most accurate way to ensure that identification documents have the proper marker for each individual, and removes barriers faced by people with limited access to medical providers," writes Arli Christian, the state policy counsel at the National Center for Transgender Equality.

It isn't the only change at the DMV recently. Starting at the beginning of this month, all new licenses and ID cards read Washington, D.C. as opposed to the District of Columbia, thanks to misinformed bouncers and TSA agents everywhere.

Both policy changes were made at the administrative level. However, Councilmember Brianne Nadeau also introduced a bill yesterday that would enshrine the non-binary gender option in D.C. law.

"Gender is a spectrum and some of our residents do not identify as male or female. Current licenses force residents to conform to genders that don’t accurately reflect their identity," Nadeau said in introducing the bill. She was joined by t-large councilmembers David Grosso, Robert White, and Elissa Silverman; Ward 6's Charles Allen and Ward 3's Mary Cheh.

In the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, a third of all respondents who had shown IDs with a name or gender that didn't match their presentation reported being harassed, denied services, or attacked. Just over half of transgender men and women said they had changed the gender noted on their licenses, whereas just 9 percent of non-binary individuals had done so. Nearly 90 percent of non-binary individuals who said that none of their IDs or records reflected the gender they preferred said it was because the available options didn't fit their gender identity.

D.C. has long been a U.S. leader in terms of implementing inclusive language, policies, and laws, enshrining gender identity as a protected class in 2006, reporting on transgender discrimination rates, and guaranteeing access to gender-neutral bathrooms.

Sakurai also notes that when they advocated for gender neutral language at last year's Constitutional Convention, the commission listened to their feedback and enacted it.

"It may seem like a small, fine point and I think a lot of people won't understand why this matters... [The Constitution] is talking about politicians, judges, representatives, people in positions of power. The idea that they are 'he' or 'she is not always the case," they say. "Get what you want as far as ID, but don't stop me for getting what I want and need to feel safe and isn't an lie."

The DMV has had this in the works for a few months, with a goal of enacting it before the end of the fiscal year, according to Foster.

Although D.C. and Oregon will be leaders in the U.S., a handful of other countries have already begun offering gender neutral passports and identification cards in recent years, including India, Australia, Ireland, Nepal, and Denmark (Canada is planning to implement it soon).

"We're talking about this like it's a brand new issue. But for a lot of people, it's in their cultural heritage," says Sakurai, who is of Japanese descent. "In traditional spirituality of Shinto, some of the gods that created the universe in were genderless. If the deities can be genderless, why can't I?"

This story has been updated with Christian's statement and the exact date of implementation.