LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KATV) — The Arkansas Department of Finance (DFA) announced a change to the state’s driver’s license policy on Monday, sparking concern from some Arkansans.
Individuals in the state are now required to only use the gender that is stated on their birth certificate, as evidenced by the change in policy.
Additionally, it eliminates the earlier available “X” option for gender selection.
“I don’t understand why they feel the need to pass laws,” according to Lake Smith, an Arkansan who identified as trans. “It’s been since 2010, so 14 years, without any incident of anything.”
Smith changed the gender on her driver’s license again in 2020 and noted even though it was tiny, it made a big difference.
“It was really easy, painless and afterward, I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, here’s my ID. It was just like ‘That little change [is] really cool,'” Smith said.
Smith noted that she might not renew her license after its expiration and that the policy change is one of “life or death.”
“If you have all your information there, and that’s who you are, that’s your life,” Smith said. “And [when] they take that away, they’re taking away your identity and everything about you that you believe as yourself and see yourself, so it’s trying to strip your identity away.”
The previous plan, according to Jim Hudson, DFA Secretary, was not supported by Arkansas law, and this change “reflects a common-sense approach that ensures a passport or ID issued by the State of Arkansas is based on accurate, credible information.”
Gov. Sarah Sanders called the plan “common sense.”
“Only women give birth, men shouldn’t play women’s sports, and there are only two genders,” Sanders said. “As long as I’m Governor, Arkansas state agencies will not accept nonsense.”
A transgender children’s family and a Presbyterian priest in the state, Marie Mainard-O’Connell, expressed disappointment in Governor Sanders and the state’s authority for ending a policy that “was in large part harming no one and really helpful to the individuals” who had the option to choose either male or female on their driver’s license.
“I want my fellow Arkansans, trans and nonbinary people, to know that they are seen, that they will not be erased, and that people of good conscience, even a couple of Christians, are going to stand up and say ‘This is wrong, and it’s unkind,'” Mainard-O’Connell said. “I’m really worried that Arkansas is becoming the state that is inherently cruel.”
