Transgender teen wins right to obtain driver's license that 'looks like me'
A transgender teen ordered to take off her makeup for a driver’s license photo has changed South Carolina policy as a result of her lawsuit.
The new policy says driver’s license applicants may be photographed the way they regularly appear, even if their clothing or makeup doesn’t conform with gender expectations, according to a press release by the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund. Reuters, the Los Angeles Times and WYFF have stories.
Chase Culpepper, 17, who identifies as female, claimed in a lawsuit that the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles violated her constitutional rights when it apparently relied on a policy that bars driver’s license applicants from altering their appearance to misrepresent their identity.
“From day one, all I wanted was to get a driver’s license that looks like me,” Culpepper said in a statement. “Now I will be able to do that.”
