COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri residents now must provide proof of gender-affirmation surgery or a court order to update their gender on driver’s licenses following a Revenue Department policy change.
Previously, Missouri required doctor approval, but not surgery, to change the gender listed on state-issued identification.
Missouri’s Revenue Department on Monday did not comment on what prompted the change but explained the new rules in a statement provided to The Associated Press.
“Customers are required to provide either medical documentation that they have undergone gender reassignment surgery, or a court order declaring gender designation to obtain a driver license or nondriver ID card denoting gender other than their biological gender assigned at birth,” spokesperson Anne Marie Moy said in the statement.
LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group PROMO on Monday criticized the policy shift as having been done “secretly.”
“We demand Director Wayne Wallingford explain to the public why the sudden shift in a policy that has stood since at least 2016,” PROMO Executive Director Katy Erker-Lynch said in a statement. “When we’ve asked department representatives about why, they stated it was ‘following an incident.’”