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.
At U.N., amid jeers and cheers, Netanyahu says Israel ‘must finish the job’ in Gaza
The Israeli prime minister's speech was defiant, despite his growing international isolation over his refusal to end the devastating war to eradicate Hamas.
Gulf South pharmacies make their own rules amid confusing COVID guidance: ‘It’s clear as mud’
Unclear rules and inconsistent interpretations of federal and state COVID-19 vaccination rules leave families confused and vulnerable patients unprotected.
Cellist Joshua Roman’s journey from long COVID back to the stage
Since childhood, Joshua Roman's life revolved around the cello. But when long COVID forced him to set his cello aside, he had to rethink his approach to life, faith and music.
Asheville hopes for a big fall tourist season to boost its post Helene economy
As October brings vivid mountain colors, the post Helene hospitality industry in Asheville, North Carolina hopes for a big return of tourists.
There was no rapture this week, so the quiz returns. Can you score a perfect 11?
This week, Jimmy Kimmel returned, a weird statue vanished and no one (to our knowledge) got snatched up to heaven.
Trump’s Tylenol warning echoes past misconceptions about mothers and autism
Medical scholars say, efforts to find a singular cause for autism has historically led to scrutinizing parents and fueling stigma about autism
