Mass. RMV reacts to outrage over transgender change on drivers licenses with dishonest answers

Sends email to citizens referring to non-existant "Massachusetts law"

February 10, 2009

The Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) is replying to angry citizens over their new "transgender" policy with blatantly misleading and dishonest emails.

People who communicated with the RMV through their web form contact page were all sent the following email:

Thank you for taking the time to let us know what you think about the RMV's transgender policy. As a customer service-based public agency we value the opinions of the people we serve.

Let me take a minute to clarify some misconceptions about this policy. The RMV has been issuing licenses to transgender persons for more than a decade. But we recently updated our Massachusetts Gender Designation Change form to more accurately reflect the laws of the Commonwealth.

Massachusetts law does not require an applicant seeking to amend his/her gender designation on a license or ID card to undergo sex reassignment surgery. However, the applicant must provide certification from their medical or social service provider that he/she has been living the life of that gender.

The law also allows any person to use a name other than the one that appears on his/her birth certificate, as long as the adopted name is not being used for fraudulent purposes. Therefore a court-approved legal name is not required to amend a license or ID card in Massachusetts.

Finally, Massachusetts law does not require an applicant to provide an amended birth certificate. Again, the RMV is relying on the sworn affidavit of the medical or social service provider to attest that the applicant has been and will continue to live the life of a male or female.

We hope this clarifies the nature of the recent changes in the RMV's transgender policy.
Thank you for using mass.gov/rmv

Will

Blatantly dishonest

In this email, the RMV (through their spokesman "Will") says this change is "to accurately reflect the laws of the Commonwealth." What laws?  The General Laws do not address transgenderism, or "changing" one's sex, in any way. Thus, the RMV goes on to say that since the laws do not prohibit them from allowing a person to do this, the RMV is free to allow it!  The "certification from a medical or social service provider" is simply a low hurdle that the RMV decided to require.

The email adds to the confusion by describing changes in birth certificates, which has very little to do with this issue.

Of course, the RMV could be like other states, and simply say that this is too bizarre and leads to all kinds of social lunacy. It's their decision; they're not forced to do anything. The truth is, of course, that a person cannot "change" one's sex. One's DNA is always either male or female, no matter what mutilations one does to the body.

This is an example the radicalism and lunacy that has taken over Massachusetts government.

Contact the Mass. Registry of Motor Vehicles:
Phone Numbers
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