Social Security allows Americans to pick new gender in their paperwork if their gender identity was not recognized in their birth certificate. That’s a big deal under the law.
It’s also a major issue in Florida, where the state is considering adding a so-called Gender Inclusive Enumeration (GIE) form for residents to fill out to decide if they’re transgender when they apply to register to vote and for school and other public institutions.
State Sen. Gary Farmer, a Republican from Plant City, says he’s working on adding the new form. In a hearing on a bill to add the GIE form and a number of other amendments to Florida’s voter registration law, he noted that the process alone could be a long one, and it could cause a lot of confusion for voters who don’t know what to do.
Farmer’s version of the GIE form is a little different from the state version the Legislature chose.
Farmer said his bill would allow anyone, regardless of what gender they identify with, to fill out a GIE form. It also would allow them to fill out a “pre-injury” gender change form to decide if they have had a sex change operation, and to choose a new designation for their gender on their voter registration.
The GIE form would be done by taking a photo, using GPS technology and submitting their new gender on the form to the state.
And the state would have to check with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and get a certificate verifying it’s transgender, Farmer said.
If the federal bureaucracy determines that the person’s new designation is a gender change, that person would have to provide documentation on their gender change to be eligible to vote, he added.
“If you’re transgender and you are not a member of the opposite sex, you do have to prove to the state that you are,” Farmer said in the hearing. “You have to prove you haven’t had a sex change operation. You have