One of the key bills Bay State legislatures are taking up as they return from the summer recess is the bill (S.2203) to allow state residents to opt for a nonbinary (“X”) gender identity on their driver’s licenses, birth certificates and other state-issued documents.
A hearing on the bill is scheduled for Tuesday, September 10, at 10:30 a.m. in the State House’s Gardner Auditorium. All are welcome to attend and be counted among supporters of the bill.
Last month, New Hampshire became the 13th state to issue a third gender option on its driver’s licenses and other state IDs.
Back in April, the Bay State Senate approved the Massachusetts bill with a resounding 39 to 1. A similar bill, however, passed the Senate but was killed in the House last year.
“This bill recognizes the reality of the lives of many non-binary citizens,” Massachusetts Gay Lesbian Political Caucus Cochair Arline Isaacson stated in April. “There is no value in pretending nonbinary or gender nonconforming people don’t exist and no value in misrepresenting them in official government documents.”
According to MassLive:
“Not everyone fits neatly into male or female, and this bill helps to recognize that, and recognize the strength and dignity of every single resident,” said [Senate President] Spilka, an Ashland Democrat. “I think that it’s important for people to realize that their voices absolutely matter.”
Spilka said she is hopeful that the bill will pass in the House. …
[The bill in Massachusetts] includes an amendment from [Senator Jo] Comerford [of Northampton] that would take stock of all the state documents that ask for a resident’s gender and change them to include an “X” option. …
“When you start looking at the state documents, you realize how many times for folks who identify as non-binary or trans, how many times we were forcing them to not be truly who they are,” Comerford said.
Along with showing up to the hearing, MassEquality is also suggesting a few other ways to support the bill:
Submit testimony: Write a short statement about why you support Massachusetts residents having the option to designate ‘X’ on their IDs rather than ‘Male’ or ‘Female’. Send that to Rep. Mindy Domb at Mindy.Domb@mahouse.gov or by snail mail to: Representative Mindy Domb, State House, 24 Beacon Street, Room 134, Boston, MA 02133
Attend the hearing simply to be counted among those who care about this issue.
Present oral testimony: Sign up to testify for up to 3 minutes by contacting Rep. Domb’s office at: Mindy.Domb@mahouse.gov or (617) 722-2400
Contact members of the Joint Committee for State Administration and Regulatory Oversightencouraging them to report the bill favorably out of committee. Joint committees have both senators and representatives, but the priority now is to contact the representatives on the committee.
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