CV NEWS FEED // The administration of Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced last week that Sunshine State residents must accurately indicate their sex on state-issued driver’s licenses.
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) Deputy Executive Director Robert Kynoch sent a letter to the state’s 67 county tax collectors stating that the department is rescinding a former guidance that “directed personnel to issue a new license in the event that a licensee wished to alter the gender marker on his or her license.”
Kynoch stated that FLHSMV will now only issue a replacement license or learner’s permit in the event that the old one is “lost or stolen, or when there is a subsequent change in the licensee’s name, address, or restrictions.”
“Furthermore, the term ‘gender’ … does not refer to a person’s internal sense of his or her gender role or identification, but has historically and commonly been understood as a synonym for ‘sex,’ which is determined by innate and immutable biological and genetic characteristics,” Kynoch wrote:
Additionally, a driver license is an identification document and, as such, serves a critical role in assisting public and private entities in correctly establishing the identity of a person presenting the license. Permitting an individual to alter his or her license to reflect an internal sense of gender role or identity, which is neither immutable nor objectively verifiable, undermines the purpose of an identification record and can frustrate the state’s ability to enforce its laws.
Kynoch outlined that “misrepresenting one’s gender, understood as sex, on a driver license” constitutes fraud and can result in “criminal and civil penalties, including cancellation, suspension, or revocation of [one’s] driver license.”
The word “gender” does not appear anywhere on a Florida driver’s license. Instead the word “sex” is used – as is the case in all other U.S. states.
Per The Daily Signal’s Mary Margaret Olohan, FLHSMV “also sent out a technical advisory on Friday, stating a patron’s gender on his or her driver’s license or identification card must be taken from a primary identification document.”
>> SENATOR INTRODUCES BILL TO REMOVE ‘X’ GENDER FROM PASSPORTS <<
The Biden administration has openly promoted placing so-called “gender identity” on government documentation.
In March 2022, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that American citizens would be able to select “X” as a “gender marker” on U.S. passports.
“The Department is setting a precedent as the first federal government agency to offer the X gender marker on an identity document,” Blinken said at the time:
After thoughtful consideration of the research conducted and feedback from community members, we concluded that the definition of the X gender marker on State Department public forms will be “Unspecified or another gender identity.” This definition is respectful of individuals’ privacy while advancing inclusion.
The word “sex” still appears on U.S. passports, rather than “gender.”
As of January 31, 22 states allow licensees to select “X” instead of “M” or “F” as their “sex” on their licenses. All but two of these states voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 – the exceptions being Arkansas and Utah.
