Wednesday, June 21, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
31
Oregonians have non-gender option
By Andrew Selsky
Associated Press
SALEM (AP) — In a
move hailed by LGBT rights
groups, Oregon became
the first state in the U.S. on
Thursday to allow residents
to mark their gender as “not
specified” on applications for
driver’s licenses, learner’s
permits and identity cards.
Under the new rule
approved by the Oregon
Transportation Commission,
Oregonians who select the
new option will have an X
appear instead of M or F on
those cards. The rule, which
takes effect on July 3, is a first
for the U.S., David House,
spokesman for Oregon’s
Driver and Motor Vehicles
Division, or DMV, told The
Associated Press.
“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.”
The DMV said the new
rule, which the commission
passed unanimously, came
about after a Multnomah
County judge in June 2016
allowed Jamie Shupe, a
Portland resident, to legally
change to “non-binary”
gender.
“There’s a little more
truth and justice in the
world today,” said Hayley
Gorenberg, deputy legal
director of Lambda Legal,
the oldest and largest national
legal organization that advo-
cates for the civil rights of
lesbians, gays, bisexuals,
transgender people.
Gorenberg said in a state-
ment that when appearances
don’t appear to match gender
markers on ID cards, people
“endure insults and psycho-
logical trauma that could
largely be averted if they
had an option to use a gender
marker that does not contra-
dict who they are.”
Lambda Legal said that
nationally, people have been
harassed and even assaulted
after presenting IDs to police,
hospital workers, employers,
airport staff, bank tellers and
others that don’t match their
gender identity or expression.
DMV Administrator Tom
McClellan choked up as he
read letters of support to the
commission, including from
someone who encountered an
embarrassing situation while
going through a body scanner
at an airport, and the security
officer didn’t know whether
to push the blue button for a
male passenger or a pink one
for a female one.
House said Oregon is the
first state or jurisdiction in
the U.S. to create this option,
but is not the first on the con-
tinent, and that the Canadian
province of Ontario imple-
mented the X option earlier
this year.
Burning to learn...
“It’s exciting to see
Oregon’s Department of
Motor Vehicles adopt this
change. We know gender is
a spectrum and some people
don’t identify as male or
female,” said Nancy Haque,
co-executive director of Basic
Rights Oregon, the state’s
largest nonprofit LGBTQ
advocacy group.
The group said other cul-
tures and other countries that
recognize non-binary genders
include India, Bangladesh,
Australia, New Zealand and
Nepal.
In California, the state
Senate by a 26-12 vote passed
a bill on May 31 to add a
third gender option on state
IDs, sending it to the state
Assembly. The California
Family Council, a conserva-
tive Christian group, opposes
it, arguing that “govern-
ment documents need to
reflect biological facts for
identification.”
The DMV said it studied
state laws, updated computer
systems, worked with law
enforcement and courts and
changed administrative rules
to implement the change and
comply with the Multnomah
Court’s order. Judge Amy
Holmes Hen ruled that “The
sex of Jamie Shupe is hereby
changed from female to
non-binary.”
Shupe was quoted last
year by The Oregonian/
OregonLive as saying: “I was
assigned male at birth due to
biology ... My gender iden-
tity is definitely feminine.
My gender identity has never
been male, but I feel like I
have to own up to my male
biology. Being non-binary
allows me to do that. I’m a
mixture of both. I consider
myself as a third sex.”
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PHOTO BY BRETT MILLER, BARRAGE STUDIOS
Trainee wildland firefighters worked on a burn southwest of
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