‘They took it back.’ MS reverses course on policy easing gender changes on licenses
The state Department of Public Safety has suddenly rescinded a policy that made it easier for Mississippians to change the gender marker on their identification by filling out a simple form.
Trans Mississippians and allies had cheered the new policy, which brought Mississippi in line with many other states. It was announced in a memo from Driver Service Bureau Director Kevin Raymond to all employees last week and first reported by the Sun Herald on Tuesday.
But by Wednesday, some who tried to apply for licenses using the form discovered it wasn’t being accepted.
“The memorandum and form sent out to all Driver Service Bureau employees were sent without the Commissioner’s knowledge and authorization,” Chris Vignes, DPS deputy commissioner of external affairs, said in a statement to the Sun Herald, referring to Commissioner Sean Tindell. “As a result, they are no longer being utilized. It is my understanding that there is still pending litigation, so we cannot offer any additional comments at this time.”
Vignes declined to say when Raymond’s memo was rescinded and whether DPS will reissue the form. He also did not explain how Tindell could not have known about the form and memo, which were issued following a lawsuit that named Tindell as a defendant. Both documents were endorsed by at least one member of Tindell’s top leadership team and a DPS attorney.
On Wednesday morning, Ashley Williams went to her local DMV in northern Mississippi with her completed form. Williams, who is transgender, waited for two hours before she got a call from a regional higher-up who told her that “legal” had rescinded the form.
“I missed a few hours of work today to do this,” she said. “I sat there for hours. ... Everyone was as nice as they could be to me about it. I’m just upset with the system. How many people are gonna waste their time trying?”
DPS leadership endorsed, explained policy change
Raymond’s Oct. 28 memo said anyone requesting a change to the gender designation on their driver’s license or ID simply had to give up their old license, “submit a completed Gender Designation Form,” and pay a fee.
Raymond’s memo followed a lawsuit filed Oct. 21 by Alexandra Dogwood, a trans woman who was denied a license transfer in Hattiesburg because the gender marker on her Missouri license differed from that on her birth certificate. Amending a birth certificate can be a time-consuming and confusing legal process.
Rather than fight the lawsuit in court, the department told Dogwood and her attorney, Matthew Lawrence, they were instead changing the policy.
The Sun Herald listened to a recording of a phone call on Friday between Dogwood, Lawrence, and Deputy Commissioner of Operations Keith Davis, who was hired by Tindell and is a member of his six-person leadership team. Davis said he believed Dogwood had been the first person to file a legal complaint over the issue.
“Because of this case, as of yesterday, we have changed our policy,” Davis said.
“I really appreciate you bringing this to our attention at this level,” he continued.
DPS General Counsel Eric Brown also participated on the call. He said Raymond’s memo had been “sent out to everybody” and that the state was “adopting a policy that other states already have in place.”
“Obviously every employee within Driver Service Bureau is gonna be trained in this policy so they understand it, and implement it the way it is,” he said.
After Dogwood obtained her license without incident Friday afternoon and her attorney Lawrence received a copy of Raymond’s memo, he filed a notice of dismissal with the Hinds County Chancery Court on Monday.
On Wednesday afternoon, he was furious to learn that Mississippians had been told the form wasn’t in use. He filed a motion for the court to enforce the agreement Dogwood reached with DPS.
“The Defendants and their attorneys have acted in bad faith and made outright misrepresentations to the Plaintiff and her attorney,” the motion said.
As of Monday, the Gender Designation Form was posted on the Department of Public Safety website, listed under forms for “Driver License.” By Wednesday afternoon, the link was still live, but it had been removed from the list.
The Sun Herald called, emailed and texted Tindell and chief counsel Mac May. May directed questions to Vignes, and Tindell did not respond.
Vignes declined to answer specific questions, citing the ongoing litigation.
‘It smacks to me of deliberate cruelty’
The policy change had brought Mississippi in line with many other states, though it required a provider to certify the applicant’s gender and did not offer an option other than “M” or “F” for gender-fluid and non-binary people.
Stacie Pace, a nurse practitioner who runs the Other Clinic in Hattiesburg, dedicated exclusively to hormone therapy for trans people, was excited to read Raymond’s memo.
“To be honest, when I read it I was like, ‘That’s it, that’s all they require?’” she said. “That’s so easy, I can’t even believe it’s real. It seems like something that cis(gender) people would be able to do.”
She sent an email to a list of about 500 current and former patients, telling them she’d be happy to give them the provider certification.
Within a few hours, she had received 25 requests for the certification. The next morning, she had another 10.
Ashley Williams was her first patient to go to the DMV. After hearing about her experience, Pace had to send out another email saying the new policy had apparently been rescinded.
A 2015 survey found that nearly 70% of trans people in the U.S. have no form of identification that matches their gender expression, exposing them to potential hostility and even violence during everyday interactions like flying or buying alcohol.
“You gave this false hope to this already vulnerable population,” Pace said. “And then you just yank it back. It smacks to me of deliberate cruelty.”
She was especially frustrated that DPS has provided no explanation for the change.
“If the problem was, oh there’s a typo on that form ... let’s revise, get it out here,” she said. “Have a plan. But there’s no plan.”
Rob Hill, Mississippi director for the Human Rights Campaign, said he was disappointed to learn of the reversal.
“My heart sank, and broke for people around Mississippi, for whom this was welcome news,” he said. “Not having the proper [identification] that matches one’s gender identity has a terrible impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. I urge Commissioner Tindell to review this quickly and reinstate this policy.”
‘Evidently something didn’t go right’
The attorney general’s office represented DPS in Dogwood’s lawsuit. On Wednesday, chief of staff Michelle Williams said she hadn’t heard anything to indicate that DPS had reversed course.
“Our role is all finished,” she said. “The policy is there. The policy, they were already working on it beforehand (ahead of Dogwood’s lawsuit). That’s why it happened so quickly and so easily.”
It’s not clear whether DPS plans to revise the form and use it in the future.
The Sun Herald called driver’s license offices around south Mississippi on Wednesday afternoon to ask about the form.
“They had sent it to us, and then they said it was sent without proper authorization and should not be utilized,” an employee in Picayune said.
“We had a memorandum, then they sent us an email yesterday saying don’t discuss it,” an employee in Hattiesburg said.
One person initially said that, yes, the agency had just started accepting the form. But after she conferred with colleagues, she said she had been mistaken.
“Those forms, it wasn’t what I thought it was,” she said. “Evidently something didn’t go right. So they took it back.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 11:45 AM.
