A proposal to drop the gender-neutral “X” option and force Arkansans with state-issued IDs to use the sex designated on their birth certificates got zero support at Friday’s public hearing.
Opponents explicated the drawbacks of dumping an inclusive policy that’s been in place since 2010 for a stricter system that would leave transgender, intersex and nonbinary Arkansans without any accurate options. Forcing people to choose “M” or “F” ignores biological reality and can put people in harm’s way, they said.
Department of Finance and Administration Assistant Commissioner Paul Gehring gave speakers five minutes each during the hour-long morning meeting, and listened respectfully. The hearing was held only to receive comments, not to answer questions or invite debate, he told the audience of about 50 people in a basement conference room of the Ledbetter Building near the state Capitol in Little Rock.
The first speaker, Jessica Disney, ticked off the everyday hassles that arise for a person whose sex identification on a driver’s licenses doesn’t line up with their gender presentation. A transgender woman with a state ID that doesn’t match, Disney said she’s been denied service at a bank and gotten tied up in airport security lines.
Nearly four years into her gender transition, Disney said her body is hormonally in line with that of a cisgender woman. But she has health concerns about undergoing the surgery required under Arkansas law to qualify for a court order that would let her change the name and sex on her birth certificate. That’s a hefty undertaking, according to requirements from the Arkansas Department of Health:
CHANGE SEX AND NAME ON A BIRTH RECORD
Required Documentation
A court order is required in order to change one’s sex and name on a birth certificate following a surgical procedure. Normally an attorney is needed for this type of action.
Once a court order is obtained, the requestor of the amendment must provide a certified court order specifying to change the person’s name and stating that the sex is to be changed due to a surgical procedure. (If the court order does not specify that a surgical procedure was performed, the requestor must also submit a letter from the doctor who performed the procedure, stating that it was done and written on that doctor’s official letterhead).
And without an amended birth certificate, Disney could not update the gender on an ID under the proposed rule change.
From 2010 until March of this year, Arkansans could update the gender on their licenses simply by requesting it. For people who didn’t want to pick male or female, “X” was fine.
Of the more than 2 million licenses and ID’s in the state, 516 included “X” as the gender marker when Gov. Sarah Sanders and DFA Secretary Jim Hudson announced the rule change in March. The gender-neutral “X” option would be going away, and anyone who wanted to change the sex on their ID would have to get a court order to amend their birth certificate first.
State legislators rushed the changes through as an emergency rule in less than a week. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas sued on behalf of five transgender, intersex or nonbinary plaintiffs. On Wednesday of this week, a judge agreed with the ACLU’s argument that emergency rules can only be passed in cases of emergency, and the state failed to show any such thing.
So the emergency rule is gone, but the same rule is making its way back to state lawmakers to be considered as a permanent change. Friday’s public hearing was one step in that process. Members of the public have a chance to weigh in through June 27.
For Pria Williams, who’s in the midst of a gender transition, the rule change is needlessly complex, especially when “we have a government that’s arguing for freedom and liberty.”
Braelyn Smith, a representative of the Queer Collective, has an “X” in the gender box on state-issued ID for the sake of accuracy and clarity.
“For my gender, medically, it’s the most accurate way to identify me.”
Making sure law enforcement has accurate information when dealing with the public was one reason given by DFA for the change. But forcing everyone to choose from only two options would lead to inaccuracies.
“If we’re looking for accuracy, if we’re looking for law enforcement to have accurate information, the best solution is to allow the ‘X’,” Smith said.
Hannah Grimmett agreed, saying that the proposed rule forces a lie. “I will have incorrect information on my ID no matter what I do.”
Maricella Garcia, the race equity director for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, said the rule change targets transgender people to no benefit.
“There was no data that in the past 10 years or more, having this “X” maker available that any harm was done to any police officer, any Arkansan or any other person,” she said.
The change will drive away queer Arkansans and their allies, she said. “We cannot afford that loss of these unique talents and minds.”
Attorney J.P. Tribell was last to speak, and used the time to note that the proposed rule change will cause problems where none existed.
“The state’s obligation should be to ensure the wellbeing of the population, to reduce harm, to reduce stress to people; not to conduct targeted campaigns of discrimination against certain citizens.”
Once the public comment period closes, the rule will go to state lawmakers at the Arkansas Legislative Council, Gehring said at the end of the meeting. The ALC isn’t scheduled to meet in July, so no votes are likely to happen until August, he said.
It’s possible the draft rule could change based on Friday’s testimonials and other public comment submitted by mail and email, he said.
It’s hard to see how the DFA could win here. If Friday’s hearing was any indication, there’s not much appetite among members of the public for codifying another policy targeting trans people. Nobody showed up to support it.
But the unprovoked attack is only one piece of Sanders’ ongoing campaign to dehumanize, humiliate and ostracize transgender Arkansans.
“This policy is just common sense,” Sanders said in March. “Only women give birth, men shouldn’t play women’s sports, and there are only two genders. As long as I’m governor, Arkansas state government will not endorse nonsense.”