BOSTON (WHDH) - The fight for gender-neutral driver’s licenses made its way to the State House Tuesday, where people who do not identify as male or female asked lawmakers for change and understanding.
One by one, a group of nonbinary and intersex activists testified in front of the State Administration Committee, hoping to gain the option of checking an “intersex” box on state IDs and documents.
“What I am asking is that you give us the ability and the freedom to represent us as we are,” one person said.
The public hearing was held for House Bill 3664, which would require all state IDs to have a third option when it comes to designating gender.
“Forms may have male, female and x,” Representative Mindy Domb said outside of the meeting. “X would be what someone who doesn’t feel that male or female adequately expresses who they are.”
Accusations of fraud and identity theft were also a subject of discussion.
“There was a time when I tried to vote and the person at the voting booth refused to believe that my name is Athena because it didn’t match what she thought I looked like,” Athena Jacobwitz Teatum, a transgendered woman, said.
Another bill would clear the way to make it easier to create gender-neutral bathrooms alongside traditional restrooms.
“The bill does not require gender-neutral bathrooms,” Domb said. “It just says if you want to modify an existing bathroom to one it is allowed without special permission.”
Massachusetts would become the 15th state to allow gender x on IDs if the bill is passed.
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