BayWindows.com – Ethan Jacobs
Dotting the I?s, Crossing the T?s
You?re driving in your car and get stopped by the police for speeding. The officer asks for your license and registration and takes them back to the police car. He swipes a strip on the back of the license into a computer, and instantly has access to an assortment of personal documents about you, from your birth certificate to letters from your doctor detailing your most private and intimate medical history. While it sounds like a plotline pulled from the Sci-Fi Channel?s new fall lineup, it could be a very real scenario for members of the transgender community if the Real ID Act goes into effect as scheduled in May 2008.
The Real ID Act, passed in May 2005 as a post-9/11 security measure, will force states to alter their driver?s licenses to conform to uniform federal standards, and it will also force people applying for licenses to produce documents verifying their date of birth, Social Security number, and residency status or citizenship, among other personal characteristics. Registries of motor vehicles will be responsible for scanning those documents into a computer and putting them in a database that would be accessible to RMVs and law enforcement authorities in all 50 states. The act has already generated a firestorm of criticism, from civil libertarians and immigration advocates to state RMV officials who worry about the cost of implementing the change. But Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), said transgender people have another reason to worry about the act that likely has not crossed the minds of those working to shore up homeland security post-9/11.