As of April 1, Illinois residents now have three gender options, “M,” “F,” and gender-neutral “X,” on driver’s licenses and state identification documents. By doing this, Illinois joins 21 other states with similar policies.
A 2019 law allowed gender-neutral markers on Illinois IDs, but it wasn’t until this spring that residents had the opportunity to select the gender-neutral option for IDs, because the Secretary of State’s office needed to update its card issuance system.
Shortly after the new policy came into effect, Christopher Jensen, board member of LAGBAC, Chicago’s LGBTQ+ bar association, went to the DMV to change their ID. Jensen uses he and they pronouns and was the first openly nonbinary member on the board.
“I was excited,” they said. “I wanted it so badly. I was just really excited to have it, for it to accurately reflect who I am…It’s a really powerful affirmation from the state, and it takes a step towards taking away that erasure, giving people their identities back, hearing their voices.”
The National Center for Transgender Equality’s 2022 U.S. Trans Survey Early Insights report showed that 22% of respondents had been “verbally harassed, assaulted, asked to leave a location, or denied services” after showing an ID with a name or gender that did not correspond with their presentation.
Gender incongruent identification can result in denial of employment, housing, and benefits and bring harassment and violence, according to the NCTE’s 2015 National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Accurate and consistent identification is necessary to open bank accounts, starting jobs, enrolling in school, and traveling.
For transgender and nonbinary individuals, affirmation of gender and pronouns can also be life-saving and vital in suicide prevention. According to the Trevor Project, respecting gender identity among young transgender and nonbinary people is consistently associated with lower attempts of attempted suicide.
“For people who are getting it, it’s a peace of mind,” said Jensen. “There is a comfort in knowing that the state acknowledges that we aren’t male or female, and that’s okay.”
Jensen also said that having documentation of nonbinary residents in Illinois could help to create new programs for nonbinary and transgender residents.
“I think if they noticed that there is a significant enough amount of the population then they can say this is a community that needs to be addressed,” they said.
However, some people are hesitant to identify as nonbinary on IDs. The trans community experiences high levels of violence, especially transgender people of color and Black transgender women. According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey Illinois State Report, 69% of respondents who interacted with police or other law enforcement who knew they were transgender reported experiencing mistreatment. Especially for those with additional identities targeted by police violence, the “X” marker as an automatic signifier of a trans identity brings some concerns.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people about this and a lot of them are concerned about the fact that it is going to be a signal immediately to a police officer that they’re trans,” Jensen said. “Just by handing over their ID. Same for TSA security, bars checking IDs… I think there’s some personal safety concerns that people have about sharing that information with everyone they encounter.”
Some people have advocated for an elimination of gender altogether on identification documents.
“While including a gender-neutral option on identity documents is a step in the right direction, it would be better to eliminate gender from IDs altogether. It’s not relevant anymore since the photo ID became prominent,” Stephanie Skora, executive director of Brave Space Alliance, a Black- and Trans-led LGBTQ center on the South Side, told the Chicago Sun-Times in 2019.
For people who do choose to change the gender on their ID, the nonbinary option can bring security, comfort, and affirmation.
“The most important thing is for affirmation of individual people’s gender identity,” said Jensen. “For me, having a state ID that says accurately what my gender is, rather than being forced to pick between one of two things that don’t apply, there’s a psychological benefit to that for individuals.”
To ensure that this new policy is positive, regular trainings could be essential. “Anybody that interacts with the public, as a government official, should have some kind of training on how to have a respectful conversation with people that you may not understand or even agree with,” Jensen said. “It’s still none of your business. You still have to treat them with as much respect as you do anyone else.”
Since April 2022, United States citizens also have been able to choose the nonbinary “X” gender on passports. The government has resources for nonbinary international travelers: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/travelers-with-special-considerations/lgbtqi.html
Illinois residents wanting to change their gender can go to the DMV and complete a gender designation change form. The fee for a new driver’s license is $5 and for a new state ID card is $10.
Planned Parenthood has a comprehensive guide on how to change gender and name markers in Illinois: https://cdn.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/be/ad/bead0ce4-ad6e-462e-831d-d58e94289b6f/t010_gaht_diy_name-gender_change.pdf
To find more information on different states’ policies on ID documents and gender, visit transequality.org/documents.
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