The ACLU is representing six transgender Michigan residents who are suing the Michigan Secretary of State in federal court (Eastern District of Michigan) seeking to change a policy which almost precludes ("makes it impossible or unduly burdensome") changing gender on their driver's licenses.
The plaintiffs, represented by lawyers of the American Civil Liberties Union, claim the policy violates constitutional rights to privacy, speech, equal protection, interstate travel and "the right to independence in making important medical decisions."
Michigan requires that information listed on a driver's license or identification card issued by the state must match the information on a person's birth certificate. That requires transgender people to have their birth certificates amended before they can have their other identification changed.
The policy was first instituted by Secretary Ruth Johnson when she took office in 2011.
But two of the plaintiffs were born in Ohio and a third was born in Idaho...where amending birth certificates cannot be legally accomplished. Another plaintiff would be required to travel to South Carolina and obtain a court order. The two born in Michigan would have to complete gender confirmation surgery...even if hey have no current need for it or cannot afford it.
They are forced to carry and show to others a basic identity document that fails to reflect an essential aspect of personhood – their gender.
Denying Plaintiffs and other transgender people a driver's license that matches their gender identity and lived gender results in the routine disclosure of their transgender status, as well as their medical condition and treatment, to complete strangers.
--Love, et al v. Johnson
The defendants are identified as Emani Love, Detroit, Tina Seitz, Macomb County, Codie Stone, Kalamazoo County, E. B., Washtenaw County, A. M., Livingston County, and K, S., Kalamazoo County.
By refusing to provide transgender people with identity documents that match their correct gender identity, the state makes it unimaginably difficult for them to navigate their everyday lives.
The policy exposes an already vulnerable group to the risks of repeatedly having to reveal intimate personal medical information that, when divulged in some situations, can lead to discrimination, harassment, violence and even death.
--Jay Kaplan, ACLU
The lawsuit claims the policy is arbitrary and represents a departure from previous department policy, based solely on animus.
Johnson's campaign was significantly focused on anti-transgender rhetoric.
The lawsuit also argues that Michigan's policy conflicts with federal policy, which does not require surgery.
In stark contrast to Michigan, where the Defendant has put in place a more restrictive policy than what existed in the past, the federal government and a number of other states have modernized their policies for correcting the gender on identity documents, such as driver’s licenses or passports,” the complaint against Johnson reads. “They have done so by eliminating surgical and other burdensome requirements in favor of policies that allow a gender correction based on a sworn statement or letter from a medical providers confirming the transgender individual’s change of gender.
The suit claims the defendant's policy is unconstitutional, violating Amendment 14, §1 (right to privacy), Amendment 1, Amendment 14, §1 (right to equal protection), Article IV, cl. 1 and Amendment 14, §1 (right to interstate travel), and Amendment 14, §1 (right to independence in making important medical decisions).
During the run-up to the 2011 Republican primary for Secretary of State:
In an era of identity theft and national security concerns, we’re glad that Ruth Johnson has now joined Rep. Paul Scott in expressly stating her opposition to the Secretary of State policy of allowing men to falsely identify themselves as female on their state-issued driver’s license, and vice versa. The people of Michigan should at minimum be able to trust their state government to tell the truth, not enable certain individuals’ psychological and emotional delusions by officially and legally identifying them as something they biologically are not. We urge all candidates for Secretary of State to let voters know where they stand on this honesty-in-government issue.
--Campaign for Michigan Families chair Gary Glenn