ACLU Sues Alabama Over Transgender ID Law
A transgender woman says she was unable to update her gender on her driver’s license because of an Alabama policy requiring proof of gender confirmation surgery.
Darcy Corbitt of Lee County is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Birmingham by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA). Corbitt moved back to Alabama in 2017 after attending college in North Dakota.
“In spite of successfully completing the requirements of changing my gender on my United States passport, my Social Security card and my North Dakota driver’s license, I was not eligible to change my gender marker on my Alabama driver’s license unless I had or could prove I’d had the surgery,” Corbitt says as she recounts what she calls a humiliating experience she had with a clerk at the Lee County driver license office.
Corbitt says the clerk at one point referred to her as “it” and refused to put female on her driver’s license.
Gabriel Arkles is with the ACLU. He says the Alabama ID policy infringes on the constitutional right to privacy, due process and equal protection.
“Driver licenses matter for trans people’s safety and ability to participate in public life,” he says. “If you have a gender marker on your license that is different than the gender most people perceive when they interact with you, then every time you show your license you’re outed as trans.”
In order to update gender on an Alabama ID, a person must first change their gender on their Social Security card and submit documentation signed by a surgeon verifying completion of gender confirmation surgery. Alabama is one of just nine states with this policy.
The suit seeks to create policies protecting trans people from discrimination. ALEA says it cannot comment on pending lawsuits.
National parks fee-free calendar drops MLK Day, Juneteenth and adds Trump’s birthday
The Trump administration, which has railed against what it describes as "woke" policies, removed MLK Day and Juneteenth from next year's list of fare-exempt days for visitors at dozens of national parks.
Waymo will recall software after its self-driving cars passed stopped school buses
Waymo is issuing a software recall for its self-driving cars after reports the company's autonomous vehicles failed to stop for school buses.
7 deaths and hundreds of injuries are linked to faulty Abbott glucose monitors
About 3 million glucose monitoring sensors were potentially affected by a production error that caused incorrect low glucose readings.
‘The Abandons’ is a sudsy soap opera dressed up in spurs and a cowboy hat
On the surface it's a gorgeous, hardscrabble Western, awash in stark landscapes, grubby faces, bar fights and banditry. But scratch away the grime, and you expose the pure, glitzy soap opera beneath.
Sudanese paramilitary drone attack kills 50, including 33 children, doctor group says
Thursday's attack is the latest in the fighting between the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, also known as the RSF, and the Sudanese military, who have been at war for over two years.
Russia unleashes drone and missile attack on Ukraine as diplomatic talks continue
Russia unleashed a major missile and drone barrage on Ukraine overnight into Saturday, after U.S. and Ukrainian officials said they'll meet on Saturday for talks aimed at ending the war.
