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LGBTQ groups voice ‘grave concerns’ over ID change in letter to Missouri DOR

People walk away as the photo transitions to a transgender flag.
Photo Illustration by Ross Williams
/
Georgia Recorder
After restricting transgender sports participation and medical access, Missouri's legislature will take up more transgender-related restrictions in 2025.

A Dec. 5 letter expressing “grave concerns” for the rights of LGBTQ Missourians gives the head of Missouri’s Department of Revenue seven days to respond to a request to restore a form that, for years, allowed applicants to change their gender marker on state identification.

Form 5532 was removed in August after Republican lawmakers complained to the Department of Revenue about a trans woman using the women’s locker room in a private gym.

The policy change marked the end of the form’s roughly eight-year lifespan. The form’s use began in 2016 when the department instituted a policy to require a health provider’s signature to affirm the applicant’s gender. Under the new policy, however, Missourians are required to show proof of surgery — a change that represents, the letter states, “a grave misunderstanding of what it means to be transgender.”

That’s because not all trans people choose to undergo surgery as part of their gender-affirming care, said Shira Berkowitz, the senior director of public policy and advocacy at PROMO Missouri.

“Not every transgender individual wants to have surgery in order to live in the body that they know themselves to be,” they said, adding that Form 5532 “allowed that to happen without having to have bodily interventions.”

Berkowitz said the August policy change left trans people scrambling and confused. No notice was given to applicants who used the form, which was taken down overnight on Aug. 1. Emails obtained by the Missouri Independent showed Department of Revenue staff rushed to take down the form before any public announcement had been made — even as the department moved to reject the applications of those who had used the form.

The reversal was particularly shocking, Berkowitz added, since PROMO staff worked with the Department of Revenue in 2016 to craft the form. The advocacy group is now one of ten Missouri organizations asking Director of Revenue Wayne Wallington to restore the form or develop an alternative procedure for changing gender markers.

PROMO Executive Director Katy Erker-Lynch attributed some of the current confusion over Missouri’s new ID requirement to a lack of communication from the department.

“We will exhaust every option to make sure that trans and nonbinary Missourians have the resources that they need to go about their everyday lives,” she said. “We have trans folks who are trying to travel, who are trying to get to their families, who are trying to get to their chosen families during the holidays. … We're approaching a new federal administration where trans and nonbinary people feel a great amount of fear, and so we have made multiple inquiries [to the Department of Revenue]. We've done Sunshine Requests and not gotten responses that are adequate.”

Along with PROMO, the organizations listed as signatories on the letter are Abortion Access Missouri, ACLU of Missouri, Black Pride St. Louis, the Center for Growing Justice, the GLO Center, Metro Trans Umbrella Group, PFLAG Greater St. Louis, Planned Parenthood Great Rivers and Trans Housing Initiative of St. Louis.

To learn more about the recent changes in Missouri’s rules for driver's licenses and a preview of the LGBTQ-related bills in the upcoming legislative session, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube, or click the play button below.

Listen to Katy Erker-Lynch and Shira Berkowitz on 'St. Louis on the Air'

St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.

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Danny Wicentowski is a producer for "St. Louis on the Air."