Starting in January 2020, Granite State residents will have the option to select M, F or X to mark their gender on their state driver’s licenses and state-issued IDs.
Earlier this month, Gov. Sununu opted not to sign the bill (HB 669) along with the 42 others he did sign, but the governor let it pass by default without his signature.
The bill’s passage into law, bill cosponsor and state Rep. Gerri Cannon of Strafford told New England Public Radio, “is a statement that even if the governor doesn’t necessarily fully agree with what was there, people’s will can be respected and the law can be put into place.”
“For those people who identify as neither male nor female, this is an opportunity for them to have [an] identification document that recognizes them for who they are,” Cannon told NPR, which went on to report that:
Cannon also sponsored a bill allowing changes to gender identification on birth certificates, and another that would require schools to have an established discrimination policy. Those bills have passed in the house and the senate and are awaiting the governor’s signature, Cannon said.
Sam Paolini is the director of Wrong Brain, a Dover-based arts collective that hosted an ACLU event in favor of the bill. Paolini identifies as gender non-binary and says legal validation of their identity from the state is important to them.
“I have an inner struggle with validating my own identity, and with a legal validation and an ID that’s issued from the state…that changes everything in terms of my confidence, and speaking up for myself and my own identity,” Paolini said.
Not a subscriber? Sign up today for a free subscription to Boston Spirit magazine, New England’s premier LGBT magazine. We will send you a copy of Boston Spirit 6 times per year and we never sell/rent our subscriber information. Click HERE to sign up!
