Chase Culpepper, a 16-year-old non-gender teen who prefers male pronouns and wears girl’s clothing and makeup, said the DMV in Anderson, S.C. forced him to take off his makeup when he was there to get his driver’s license.
According to the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund as reported by the Daily News , “workers accused him of not looking the way ‘a boy should’ and refused to take his picture while he was wearing makeup.”
Culpepper removed his makeup, got his photo taken March 3 and went home with his license.
“The government should not be in the business of telling men and women how we are supposed to look as men and women,” Michael Silverman, executive director of TLDEF, told the Daily News.
TLDEF says the DMV deliberately took away his freedom of gender expression.
“We want Chase to be able to go back to the DMV in Anderson, his hometown, and have his photo taken the way he looks every day with makeup on,” Silverman said to the Daily News.
Culpepper isn’t giving up either. He wishes to have his picture taken again.
“Chase is happy with who he is. Chase’s mother loves him just the way he is,” Silverman told The News. “The government should not tell him there is something wrong with him just because he doesn’t meet the DMV’s expectations about what a boy should look like.”
Silverman wrote a letter on behalf of his organization to Kevin Shwedo, South Carolina DMV’s executive director, and Frank Valenta, the general counsel, asking for the teen to get this opportunity.
When contacted by the news organization, the Anderson DMV did not comment.
