Vermont Public is independent, community-supported media, serving Vermont with trusted, relevant and essential information. We share stories that bring people together, from every corner of our region. New to Vermont Public? Start here.

© 2024 Vermont Public | 365 Troy Ave. Colchester, VT 05446

Public Files:
WVTI · WOXM · WVBA · WVNK · WVTQ · WVTX
WVPR · WRVT · WOXR · WNCH · WVPA
WVPS · WVXR · WETK · WVTB · WVER
WVER-FM · WVLR-FM · WBTN-FM

For assistance accessing our public files, please contact hello@vermontpublic.org or call 802-655-9451.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Maine Will Issue Nonbinary Gender Driver's Licenses

Ian-Meredythe Dehne Lindsey, who's request for non-binary gender marker prompted the BMV's change in policy.
Willis Ryder Arnold
/
Maine Public
Ian-Meredythe Dehne Lindsey, who's request for non-binary gender marker prompted the BMV's change in policy.

Maine Will Issue 'Nonbinary' Gender Driver's Licenses

As national pride month picks up steam, members of Maine’s LGBTQ community are celebrating a fresh victory. The Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles will no longer require people getting IDs and driver’s licenses to select only male or female to indicate their gender.

The change comes after a yearlong mediation process between the Maine Human Rights Commission and the department.

Last June, Ian-Meredythe Dehne Lindsey filled out a gender designation form, went to the BMV and was told that the current computer system could not accommodate a “nonbinary” gender designation.

“It was frustrating just because other states do have that accommodation. So it’s a little frustrating to know that the state that I live in and love at the time didn’t have that accommodation,” Lindsey says.

Lindsey reached out to the Maine Human Rights Commission which soon began talks with the state.

In this photo released by the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles, shows the option of a gender-neutral designation on a driver's license.
Credit Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles / via Associated Press
/
via Associated Press
In this photo released by the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles, shows the option of a gender-neutral designation on a driver's license.

Maine is the first state in New England to offer the option of selecting “X” on state-issued IDs to indicate nonbinary gender. The policy is already in place in Oregon and Washington, D.C.

People in Maine can now apply for an official sticker to put on their driver’s licenses that will indicate their true gender.

It is a change that could eliminate one source of continual concern, Lindsey says.

“It’s just a daily challenge and you’re always concerned and there’s that little bit of apprehension and fear of like, ‘OK, I have to show my ID, how is this person going to react based on my gender expression, my gender presentation?’ and how that’s not reflected in my ID at all,” Lindsey says.

Lindsey says the fact a state ID will actually provide a more accurate descriptor seems a bit surreal.

“But at the same time it feels really, really amazing to have actual documentation from my state that reflects and represents who I am and that validates my existence,” Lindsey says.

Maine Transgender Network Executive Director Quinn Gormley says the change will benefit its several hundred members throughout the state. She says news of the change has brought tears to the eyes of many.

“I think there’s a really core level of validation in having an official document recognize you for who you are,” she says.

Gormley says the change in Maine’s BMV-issued IDs is a step toward equality that is cause for people outside the community to celebrate as well.

“Even if you don’t understand what the meaning of this change is to our community that you can at least join us in celebrating the visibility that this is bringing and understand that this visibility is only going to help us grow and make us more resilient,” she says.

Newly issued IDs will include the nonbinary gender option starting July 2019.

Copyright 2021 Maine Public. To see more, visit Maine Public.

Willis Ryder Arnold is an arts and culture reporter for St. Louis Public Radio. He has contributed to NPR affiliates, community stations, and nationally distributed radio programs, as well as Aljazeera America, The New York Times blogs, La Journal de la Photographie, and LIT Magazine. He is a graduate of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and a recipient of the Society of Professional Journalist’s award for Radio In-Depth Reporting.
Latest Stories