Male, female or X? Oregon adds third option to driver's licenses

Oregon became on Thursday the first U.S. state to allow residents to identify as other than male or female on state driver's licenses, a decision that transgender advocates called a victory.

Under a policy unanimously adopted by the Oregon Transportation Commission, residents can choose to have an "X," for non-specified, displayed on their drivers' license or identification cards rather than an "M" for male or "F" for female. The move was cheered by supporters as a civil rights victory.

The state's Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division expects to start offering the option in July.

"I very much plan to head to the nearest DMV and ask for that ID to be corrected on July 3rd," said Jamie Shupe, an Army veteran who successfully petitioned for the non-binary gender option. "And then I'll no doubt stand out front of the building, or sit in the car, and cry."

Transgender rights have become a flashpoint across the United States after some states, including North Carolina, have tried to restrict transgender people's use of public bathrooms.

At the end of May, a federal court ruled that a transgender boy must be allowed to use the boys' bathrooms at his high school in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The decision in Oregon comes a year after a Portland circuit court judge granted a request by Shupe to change gender from female to a third, nongender option.

That 2016 ruling prompted state officials to examine how to allow a third option in the state's computer systems and how such a change would interact with the state's gender laws.

During public hearings on the change, most comments were in favor, according to a summary by DMV officials.

A handful of people questioned the need for the third option and expressed concern that the change would complicate police officers' efforts to identify people.

A DMV spokesman added the agency has no estimate of how many people might apply for the new IDs.

(Reporting by Terray Sylvester in Hood River, Oregon; Writing by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)