Portland, Ore. (KATU) — The way he was at birth, plus hormone therapy, left Jamie Shupe gender neutral. Not male, not female. That’s important to Jamie Shupe.
“I was someone who was born with mixed-sex characteristics. So to classify me as solely male or solely female was – it was an injustice,” Shupe said.
A Multnomah County Judge agreed – and handed down a June 10th ruling that the sex of Jamie Shupe be changed from female to non-binary – neither male nor female.
Just like virtually every other driver’s license application found nationwide, Oregon’s application requires you to choose male or female.
The Oregon DMV says adding another choice isn’t that simple, because so many other agencies are tied into their system. “Most important? Law enforcement. They rely on us for data on individual ID on a daily basis – traffic stops, criminal investigations – so we just can’t make a change without coordinating with them so we don’t crash their system,” said Oregon DMV spokesperson David House.
Jamie Shupe is willing to wait – for a little while. He said, “Something could happen if they really want something to happen. Now, if they start talking years, then – then that makes me mistrustful of what’s going on.”
Correction (06/23 1:50 p.m.) – An earlier version of this article misstated that hormone therapy and surgery left Jamie Shupe gender neutral. This information was incorrect. According to Shupe, there was no surgery.
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