State views nonbinary gender option
Legislators see House bill as going down the ‘rabbit hole’ or ‘respect’
Connecticut could be considering how to add nonbinary as an option for gender on all state forms and applications if a new bill passes.
House Bill 5314, which passed out of committee on Friday, would require each state agency to evaluate how it might update all digital or physical forms and applications to offer a nonbinary option when individuals are asked to identify their sex or gender. The bill now heads to the House floor for consideration.
About 1.2 million people in the United States identify as nonbinary, according to the Williams
Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Under the bill’s current language, agencies must determine what changes are necessary and what resources such revisions would require. Each agency must complete its evaluation by Jan. 1, 2026, for the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management to issue a final report by Feb. 15.
“It doesn’t require that the forms be updated yet,” Committee Chair Sen. Mae Flexer said. “It requires that the agencies figure out how to update them and make that evaluation as to how that would occur.”
The proposal was met with criticism from several Republican members of the board who expressed hesitancy in going down the “rabbit hole” or “slippery slope” of recognizing more than two genders.
“I don’t think we should be updating the forms to have another gender on there,” Ranking Member Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco said. “It’s male or female. I mean, how many genders are we gonna start putting on forms?”
Ranking Member Sen. Rob Sampson said that during a debate on a similar proposal in a previous session, he suggested that the
state offer an “other” category as a third option for gender.
“That might encompass anyone that doesn’t fall into the two main categories based on their own interpretation. And that was not approved by the committee,” Sampson said.
Sampson raised concerns that a nonbinary gender option could “undermine the ability of law enforcement to do their job” in a scenario where police might be looking for a suspect who has changed their gender identity.
Sampson said that while he “respects the rights of every individual to live as they choose,” he said a nonbinary gender option could lead to “compelled speech.”
According to the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University “the compelled speech doctrine sets out the principle that the government cannot force an individual or group to support certain expression.”
“This is not just going to allow someone to say, ‘I identify a certain way and that’s my choice,’ because I’ve got no problem with that whatsoever. But once you start to incorporate that into our laws, there is going to come a point where other folks who live in our society are going to be in a position of having to recognize that statement as fact, even if they disagree and … if objectively it’s not true,” Sampson said.
Rep. Aimee Berger-girvalo disagreed.
“The danger of acknowledging them is nonexistent, whereas the danger of not acknowledging and respecting is very real,” Berger-girvalo said.
Berger-girvalo pointed to statistics and studies on suicidal ideation and attempts among individuals who identify as nonbinary or transgender.
According to a 2023 survey by the Trevor Project, 50% of young people who identify as trans and nonbinary seriously consider attempting suicide. One in five reported attempting suicide in the last year.
“That’s real danger,” Berger-girvalo said.
Berger-girvalo said that the suggestion of an “other” category would lead to an “othering” of people and serve as a means to “fundamentally use differences as a way to either dehumanize or make someone less than.”
Sen. Sampson later argued against Berger-girvalo’s statement, calling her characterization “unfair.”
“I am grateful that we, as a committee, have chosen not to use the language of othering when we are talking about this. Other is neither inclusive nor is it really even accurate,” Berger-girvalo said, adding that she was thankful for “the opportunity to remind everyone of the data surrounding the true danger in not acknowledging a very important group of people because they are people.”
The House passed a similar bill last year.
The Department of Motor Vehicles already offers a nonbinary designation on licenses. The option was added beginning Jan. 27, 2020. Last year, the DMV said it issues a nonbinary license about once every other day.