Asked their sex, some mark ‘X’

People have official alternative option on gender identification

Gender is no longer just about male and female. For the first time, state governments are giving residents the option of a third gender identifier, neither exclusively male or female, often called non-binary.

Tuesday, the District of Columbia became the first jurisdiction in the country to offer residents a gender-neutral choice of “X” in the space on their driver licenses and identification cards. A similar change approved this month in Oregon will take effect July 3.

A bill that would allow Californians to legally identify as nonbinary passed the state’s Senate, and similar legislation was introduced in New York this week.

Dana Zzyym, a Navy veteran from Colorado, is fighting for the same change on the federal level, seeking a non-binary passport option. Zzyym — who prefers the pronouns they, them and their — is intersex, meaning they were born with sexual anatomy that does not fit the typical definition of male or female.

“Dana has been fighting for almost three years for an essential identity document that accurately reflects who they are,” Lambda Legal counsel Paul Castillo said. “If Oregon can do it, why can’t the U.S. State Department?”

Opponents of the move, such as Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia, argued that the change invites identity fraud.

“If one’s sex can be officially ‘changed’ by simply — even repeatedly — filing an $11 form with the state government, it’s going to be a lot harder to accurately identify ‘non-binary’ accused criminals in open court,” Thomasson said in a statement.

Proponents of the change said the issue of gender on official documents isn’t merely semantic. Nearly one-third of transgender people said they were harassed, assaulted or denied service because their ID did not match their “gender presentation,” according to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey from the National Center for Transgender Equality.

An ID that is “inconsistent with one’s gender identity” can trigger discrimination or even violence at work or school, as well as problems with health care, housing and law enforcement,” the non-profit organization Lambda Legal argued to the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Oregon was the first state to allow residents to legally change their gender to non-binary after a court ruling in 2016 in favor of 18year Army veteran Jamie Shupe.

Shupe spent childhood, adolescence and most of adulthood as a man. Shupe served in the Army, got married and had a daughter.

Shupe wrestled with sexual identity, never comfortable living life as a man. The stress of hiding took a heavy toll during those years, but when Shupe tried to transition to female, it proved to be just as difficult.

“Turning a male body, especially an older male body, into a female, I think it really sets the stage for people committing suicide,” Shupe said. “I mean you had to maintain a hyper-feminine appearance 24-7, or you were back to getting called sir.”

Shupe identified as more feminine than masculine but was not interested in changing physically into a female through surgery.

“Instead, I view myself as just a unique variation of nature that’s just fine like it is,” Shupe said.

“Turning a male body, especially an older male body, into a female, I think it really sets the stage for people committing suicide.” Jamie Shupe