It’s now easier for trans Mississippians to change gender on IDs. Here’s how it works.
When Alexandra Dogwood moved home to Mississippi, the law required her to transfer her Missouri driver’s license within 60 days.
Dogwood took all of her paperwork to the driver’s license office in Hattiesburg, expecting a smooth process. She’d already legally changed her name and completed a gender designation change form in Missouri.
But the employees wouldn’t give her a new license because the sex listed on her Mississippi birth certificate didn’t match her Missouri paperwork and license. They said the birth certificate was the only document they could accept, even though states are supposed to recognize each other’s licenses.
They addressed Dogwood as “sir,” read her documents aloud for the whole room to hear, and laughed at her as she left the office without a license, she said.
But after Hattiesburg attorney Matthew Lawrence filed a complaint against the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Driver Service Bureau, the department quickly changed the policy.
Mississippians will now be able to obtain driver’s licenses and IDs that match their gender identity even if it differs from that listed on their birth certificate. To change the gender on an existing Mississippi license or ID, customers will complete a new “Change of Gender Designation Request” form. A “medical or social service provider” must also provide a signature.
The change still requires people to select male or female, with no option for non-binary people or those who use they/them pronouns.
The state will also accept gender designation forms from any state.
On Thursday, the bureau’s director sent a memo to all employees describing the new policy and instructing them to treat transgender and non-binary customers with respect.
“It’s like Mississippi is saying for the first time, we acknowledge that trans people live in Mississippi,” Dogwood told the Sun Herald. “‘Cause for the longest time they’ve refused to acknowledge that this is even something that can happen. And that has created a culture where employees feel like they have the right to harass you, for trying to use a public service.”
The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), which tracks state policies for changing gender markers on identification, previously gave Mississippi a D, for “unclear, unknown, or unwritten policy.”
The new policy brings the state up to a B+ on the NCTE’s scale, said senior policy counsel Olivia Hunt, an expert on identification documents.
LGBTQ+ advocates said Monday that the change will make a significant difference for trans Mississippians.
“Honestly, this is going to have a huge impact,” said Sarah Schnaithman, a third-year law student at the University of Mississippi who specializes in helping trans people navigate name and gender marker changes in the state. “Because there are many people in the trans community who either don’t want to or don’t have access or can’t get their gender marker amended on their birth certificate.”
The Department of Public Safety did not respond to a request for comment.
Jackie R. Bost II, the special assistant attorney general who defended DPS in the lawsuit, said he was not at liberty to discuss the issue.
Changing a birth certificate
Previously, a Mississippian who wanted to change the gender marker on their license first had to amend their birth certificate.
That requires a court order and medical documentation, which can be a time-consuming and confusing process.
“You don’t have to have a lawyer, but if you miss a step in the process, you won’t get it,” Schnaithman said.
And if you succeed, the new gender marker is added to the birth certificate next to the old one. Other states will issue an entirely new, corrected birth certificate.
Dogwood’s lawyer, Matthew Lawrence, argued in the complaint he filed in the Hinds County Chancery Court on Oct. 21 that because it can often take up to six months to amend a birth certificate, it was impossible for Dogwood and other people in her position to comply with the law requiring them to get a Mississippi driver’s license within 60 days.
Schnaithman said the policy change happened so quickly that she believes it was in the works before Dogwood’s complaint, and that the department may have been waiting for someone to raise the issue.
“Now they can say, ‘My hands were tied,’” she said. “’We were sued in chancery court. They filed an injunction, and it would have cost a lot of taxpayer money to challenge this lawsuit when all they really want is for us to put together a form.’”
The gender designation form posted on the DPS website is labeled “10.13.21,” about a week before Dogwood’s complaint was filed.
“Employees should be informed that the applicant’s birth certificate will not reflect the changed gender designation and that this is not required,” director Kevin Raymond wrote in the memo sent out Thursday.
How Mississippi policy compares to other states
For cisgender people, the gender marker on their driver’s license doesn’t usually require much thought.
But for trans people, carrying identification that doesn’t match their gender expression can cause confusion and awkwardness, or hostility like what Dogwood experienced.
A 2015 survey of transgender Americans by the NCTE found that 68% of trans people said none of their identity documents included their preferred name and gender. A quarter of respondents said they had been verbally harassed after showing identification that didn’t match their gender expression.
“A trans person who’s not able to update their gender marker is going to be outed, or forced into an uncomfortable situation, possibly even exposed to threats of violence any time they go to purchase alcohol or another age restricted product, to rent a hotel room or a car,” Olivia Hunt said.
Under the NCTE’s rubric, Mississippi’s new policy would get a B+, in line with states like Alaska, Ohio, Delaware, Missouri and North Carolina.
The change “is going to make life substantially better and substantially easier for trans Mississippians of all ages, all walks of life,” Hunt said.
The 20 A+-graded states — like Arkansas, Virginia, California and Massachusetts — don’t require a provider certification and offer a gender marker other than male and female.
“They’re not acknowledging gender fluidity,” Lawrence said of Mississippi’s new policy. “They’re doing the bare minimum so they don’t get sued.”
Some other states — including Texas, Tennessee and South Carolina, have much more restrictive policies. They require “proof of surgery, court order, and/or amended birth certificate” to change the gender designation on an ID.
‘Some sort of light of hope’
Dogwood said that when she arrived at the Hattiesburg driver’s license office in August, employees were initially polite. But when they started looking through her documents, the tone changed.
They interrogated her and her wife about their last name and read her birth certificate out loud, she said.
Because of that experience, Dogwood wanted any new policy to include guidance that employees treat customers of all gender identities with respect.
DPS did what she requested.
“A person’s transgender or non-binary status should be treated with sensitivity and confidentiality, just as one would treat any other personal life experience,” Raymond’s memo says. “A transgender or non-binary customer may or may not want to discuss their gender identity or expression with employees. Respect the wishes of the customer.”
“Employees must not engage in gossip about any customer, especially personal issues such as gender identity or expression,” it continues.
Rob Hill, Mississippi director for the Human Rights Campaign, said he hopes legislators will take note of the gender marker policy change. This spring, the state passed a bill banning trans girls from school sports. Hill is gearing up for the next legislative session, when lawmakers could again consider a bill to restrict gender-affirming healthcare for children and people under 21.
“I hope that this will be an example for our legislature and for our other statewide leaders, that positive things like this, policy changes, can have an economic impact and a positive impact on people’s lives,” he said.
Last Friday, Dogwood went back to the same driver’s license office in Hattiesburg. She left with her license.
Dogwood, who grew up in northern Mississippi, thinks attitudes toward trans people in the state are changing, however slowly.
“It’s some sort of light of hope,” she said. “If we can do this, what else can we do?”
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated the attorney general’s office worked on this policy change. It has been updated to reflect that the office represented DPS in Dogwood’s lawsuit.
