June 23, 2014
DMV officials told Chase Culpepper that he would be required to look more like a boy before he could receive his driver’s license. With no other choice but to follow orders, Culpepper removed the makeup and received the license. Now, the teen has filed a formal complaint and is using public media to force the DMV to let him re-take his license picture, wearing his usual made up face.
Saying he felt as if he had been singled out and mistreated at the DMV for dressing differently, Culpepper went to the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund. The group charged that Culpepper’s rights had been violated, however, the DMV disagreed.
According to South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles spokesperson Beth Parks, it’s important for a license picture to portray who the person is legally.
“When this young man has to show his ID, his ID shows that he’s male. The card says he’s male [and therefore], he needs to look like a male,” Parks said. She also pointed out local law:
“At no time will an applicant be photographed when it appears that he or she is purposefully altering his or her appearance so that the photo would misrepresent his or her identity.”
Gay Rights
The DMV policy not only applies to make up (for males), but to hats, scarfs, doo-rags, masks and other items that could alter or disguise a persons identity. According to Parks, if someone is transgender and changes their name and gender through the courts, the DMV will honor that change. Since the transgender rule didn’t apply to the 16-year-old Culpepper and since it was evident he had altered his appearance and misrepresented his identity, he needed to follow the law and be photographed sans make up.
So, who’s right? Should Chase Culpepper have been allowed to pose in the style that felt most natural to him? Or was the DMV correct and within their right to force him to be photographed without makeup and as a male?
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16-year-old boy being refused a license at the DMV after he
tried to be photographed wearing women’s makeup.
"According to Parks, if someone is transgender and changes their name and gender through the courts, the DMV will honor that change."
I understand the DMVs position on this AND I agree with it.
But there's also the fact that this young man APPEARS to look like a girl, even without make-up…so, with respect to THIS case, I'm not sure what the DMV actually accomplished by insisting he remove it before he could have his pic taken?
But I also have another question- Where are his parents? He is, afterall, only 16 and therefore still a minor. The story states that he's suing the DMV…NOT his parents.
What is their position on this?