New Jersey adds ‘X’ gender marker to driver’s licenses and other IDs

In a milestone for nonbinary and intersex New Jersey residents, “X” is now a gender identifier option on driver’s licenses and other state identification.

New Jersey joins 19 states and Washington in adding the “X” gender marker, which indicates that a person’s gender is unspecified or that the individual does not identify as male or female. The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission announced the rule Monday and added that the “X” option was supposed to have been available in 2020 but was delayed due to the pandemic.

“We know this new option will be deeply impactful for many residents, as access to resources and the ability to live and work freely so often hinges on having documentation that correctly reflects your identity,” Motor Vehicle Commission Chief Administrator Sue Fulton said in a statement.

The law joins 2018 legislation that allows those born in New Jersey to change gender identification on birth certificates — as well as other state documentation — without proof of gender-reassignment surgery.

Christian Fuscarino, executive director of Garden State Equality, applauded the state’s move and said he hoped that the rest of the country will follow.

“LGBTQ people should be able to access the same benefits no matter where in the United States they are,” Fuscarino said. “This option will allow New Jerseyans, particularly nonbinary and intersex people, to enjoy a right many of us take for granted — having ID that accurately reflects who we are.”

Celeste Fiore, lawyer and founder of the New Jersey nonprofit Trans Affirming Alliance, said that while the “X” is a positive step, other official systems have some catching up to do. For example, said Fiore, who specializes in family, special-education, and anti-bullying law, someone with an “X” on a driver’s license still is required to choose “male” or “female” on hospital intake and insurance forms and on legal documents.

“You might have this license that affirms your identity, but you’re still facing a system that is really binary,” Fiore said.

Activists have spent years lobbying for the “X” identifier to be included on federal documents such as passports and Social Security cards.

While no timeline has been announced, the White House said in February that President Joe Biden “remains committed” to keeping a campaign promise to support the implementation of nonbinary federal identification documents.

In a 2015 survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality, more than two-thirds of the 27,715 respondents said they did not have any ID or record that displayed both their preferred names and genders.

“Moving our society beyond the binary has long been a goal of queer and trans activists,” Fuscarino said. “It is long overdue that we modernize systems that are exclusionary to those who do not identify as male or female.”