California Could Become First to AddThird Gender Option to State IDs

Why not add a new species while you’re at it?

1.30.2017

A new bill has been introduced by Democratic lawmakers in California which if passed would make the state the first in the union to add a gender option other than male or female on state-issued identification.

The bill, SB 179, launched by state Sen. Toni Atkins, “would add a non-binary gender marker option for driver’s licenses, birth certificates, identity cards and gender change court orders,” according to Fox News. No longer would Californians have to get a doctor’s approval to petition the gender change. Also, minors desiring a new gender identity could apply for an official change on their birth certificates. Atkins believes the law would help transgender people avoid discrimination.

Backing the bill is the group Equality California, whose member Jo Michael said, “As a person who identifies as transgender and is non-binary, this piece of legislation is important to me on a personal level. For the first time, Californians could have accurate gender markers that truly reflect who we are."

Opposing the bill is the conservative Christian group California Family Council. CEO Jonathan Keller released a statement:

We believe government documents need to reflect biological facts for identification and medical purposes. Laws like this will simply erase any meaningful gender definitions, if being male or female is completely divorced from biological facts.

But SB 179 co-author Sen. Scott Wiener (San Francisco) defended the bill saying, “The trans community is under assault in this country. California needs to go in the opposite direction.”

“When they go backwards, we go forwards,” he added.

A similar case occurred in Colorado last year, Fox News notes, in which someone was denied a passport by the State Department because the applicant doesn’t identify with the male or female gender. A federal judge asked the DoS to reconsider, however, as the report states, “Government lawyers argued that moving beyond two gender choices on federal documents would hamper officials' ability to verify identities and backgrounds because they rely on state documents including drivers' licenses and birth certificates with only male and female gender options.”

Apparently, California doesn't want scientific facts to have any part in how the state is governed, except when those “facts” are needed to help its climate change agenda. See, even the liberal west coast is confused on who it is.