California lawmakers are considering a proposal to provide gender-neutral identification.
State Sen. Toni Atkins (D - 39th District) introduced a bill to streamline the process of providing a gender neutral or nonbinary option on the California driver license, birth certificate and other forms of state identification.
The proposal is passing through various committees of the legislature.
Oregon and the District of Columbia recently issued the gender neutral option on their driver’s licenses.
“What’s most valuable to us is the right to freedom liberty, justice for all. That may sound hokey but I think if you talk to the individuals this applies to they want to be part of, not separate from, part of and yet be able to be who they are," said Atkins.
a.t. furya who grew up in San Diego is only the fifth person in the country, according to the Transgender Law Center, to obtain court documents that grant “nonbinary” as their legally designated gender.
Nonbinary means the person does not designate male or female as a gender.
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“Agender for me or not having a gender has been spot on because then I don’t feel like okay like, I’m this, but I’m not really. It fits. I don’t know how else to explain it," said a.t.
NBC 7's Marianne Kushi digs deeper into the issue in this video report including opposition from State Sen. Pat Bates (R - 36th District) who says it’s a matter of security.
