Andrea Montanez speaks, surrounded by LGBTQ+ activists, on Florida’s anti-trans ID card policy during a rally at Spektrum Health in Orlando. (Photo by Jeremy Williams)
ORLANDO | Advocates representing nearly a dozen LGBTQ+ organizations held a rally May 6 protesting the state’s driver’s license and ID card policy change on gender.
The rally was a response to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles rescinding earlier this year its policy allowing Floridians to update the gender marker on their IDs to match their gender identity. FLHSMV Deputy Executive Director Robert Kynoch detailed the change in a memo to county tax collectors dated Jan. 26. The memo was made public Jan. 29.
Prior to the update, Floridians could update their licenses by providing an official statement from an applicant’s attending physician noting it was appropriate to do so. According to the memo, however, this provision was “not supported by statutory authority” and the term “gender” should be “understood as a synonym for ‘sex,’” which subject matter experts like the World Health Organization refute.
The January memo has led to months of protests, marches, letter writings and die-ins from a coalition of LGBTQ+ organizations.
“Accurate identification is a human right; we must demand access to legal authenticity for all,” the coalition stated in an open letter. “Advocates for transgender individuals, immigrants, and people experiencing homelessness must stand together in the fight for equitable access to accurate identification. We demand that the FLHSMV restore their previous IR08-Gender Requirements policy to ensure that transgender people can obtain accurate IDs. Furthermore, we demand that legislators take action to protect trans people’s ability to obtain accurate identification as well as protect the acceptance of community IDs.”
The rally was attended by dozens of activists at Spektrum Health in Orlando, including Florida Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, One Orlando Alliance board member Shea Cutliff, GLSEN Central Florida chair Jen Cousins and Florida Senate candidate Vance Ahrens.
Ahrens spoke to the crowd about a local trans individual who went to their DMV with a court order allowing him to change his name and gender marker; however, due to the DHSMV directive was unable to do so.
“He was denied by an administrative action from our state, not legislative,” Ahrens said. “This is nothing but discrimination. This is why we are fighting back. … We need change here now. What’s been going on is they’re ignoring the real problems of Floridians by making transgender people the scapegoat for all the problems in Florida.”
Attendees held signs reading “Trans Lives Matter,” “Protect Trans Kids” and “ID For All” as community leaders like Jacob Muldoon, an organizer for Orlando for Gender Equality, led them in chants like “being trans is not a crime!” and “we won’t go back, not one step back!”
“This recent DMV guidance is specifically targeting the trans community, but the Florida GOP has been attacking ID’s at every part of the government,” Muldoon said. “We see this in new laws revoking community IDs, which target both the immigrant and the homeless community. These political moves by DeSantis and the Florida GOP are unconstitutional and they follow a trend of Florida violating federal law, like REAL ID and Title IX. DeSantis and the GOP are rogue actors dead set on their unpopular, hate-filled agenda; the only way to save Florida is to fight back!”
In a call to action, Muldoon told the crowd that they must continue to build pressure on the FLHSMV until the policy is changed, directing everyone to an online petition.
“Sign the petition, share the petition, stay involved in the fight,” he said. “Additionally, we know that petitions are not the only tactic we can use. In addition to building public pressure around the DMV policy, we will engage in direct actions in the coming weeks. We will continue mobilizing to DMV’s across the state. We will not back down until the policy is changed.”
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