Trans activists have gathered in Florida’s streets to protest a new scheme change that forbids changes to gender markers on state-issued identification cards and was criminalize trans Citizens.
According to a letter published in January, trans citizens in Florida will no longer be permitted to change the sex on their driver’s license to represent their gender identity.
Robert Kynoch, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ (FLHSMV) deputy executive director, wrote the memo.
On January 26, he wrote, “A driver’s license is an id document and, as such, plays a crucial role in assisting public and private entities in properly establishing the identity of one presenting the registration.”
The purpose of an recognition report is undermined, and the government’s ability to enforce its laws may be hampered, by allowing a person to change their license to represent an inner feeling of gender role or identity that is neither eternal nor objectively verifiable.
As a result, on February 9th, protesters took to the streets to stage “die-ins” at state-wide driver’s license offices (DMVs), disrupting commerce and raising awareness of the state of its violation of transgender rights.
The Youth Action Fund, which assisted in organizing the DMV die-in protests, stated on social media that “this Tragic anti-LGBTQ+ policy shift was directed by Robert Kynoch, Deputy Director of the FL MDA, in a department-wide memo.” He ORDERED a BAN on precise identity marker changes, contributing to Transgender Passing, while opening the door for potential expulsion or “fraud” costs.”
According to Kynoch’s memo, people with state IDs or licenses that list a female other than the one they were given at birth could face serious repercussions, such as criminal charges that could result in up to five years in prison or supervision and an enormous $5,000 fine.
Crowds gathered in halls after 10 a.m. in Alachua, Miami-Dade, Orange counties, and Hillsborough, collapsing onto the floor in an act of symbolic resistance. Some protesters erected tombstones with somber sayings like “Killed by the DMV” or” Komilized by Ron DeSantis in a direct attack on the government.
PRISM, a well-known Gay advocacy organization that is the driving force behind the “Let Trans Citizens Drive” plan, coordinated the organized protests in large part with the help of friends like the Youth Action Fund, Equality Florida, Hope Community Center, and GLSEN Central Florida as well as SPEKTRUM Health.
The largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization in the US, the Human Rights Campaign, tweeted, “Cry out to the young gay activists who led this opposition,” and shared several photos of the demonstration. We are pleased to fight alongside you because you are the future of our action.
The protests were justified by PRISM in a press release, which stated that “participants does stage die-ins to underscore the disastrous consequences of efforts to remove the transgender community’s legitimate recognition.”
Invoking the provincial Real ID Act of 2005, PRISM has also requested intervention from President Joe Biden’s leadership and the Justice Department. With the help of this law, federal requirements for government IDs can be established, probably superseding state-level regulations like Florida’s. 750 papers total were sent during the demonstration.
