House Bill 2492, introduced by Rep. Ken Clark (D-Phoenix), would allow transgender people the option of selecting non-binary as gender on their driver's licenses.
HB 2492 is incredibly important because it would allow non-binary transgender Arizonans to be recognized under the law. This bill gives me hope for the future of our state.
--Ashton Skinner, One Community
One, you should simply have the right to identify how you identify. But I also think there's a practical element: If you’re at the hospital and you’re unconscious, and the doctor can see on your ID that you might identify in a different way, that may help indicate treatment.
--Rep Clark
House Bill 2582, intoduced by Rosanna Gabaldón (D-Green Valley), would require death certificates to reflect a deceased’s gender identity.
I want to be able to say that Arizona’s on the front lines of recognizing diversity. I want to see a time when we can look back at this and wonder why anyone had a problem with it.
--Rep. Gabaldón
The LGBT community has likened misgendering someone who died to spitting on that person's grave.
It’s not fair, and it doesn’t dignify us for who we are and how we’ve lived our lives with tremendous authenticity and with great effort. I’ve changed my name with 38 entities or institution, and those are just the ones I've counted.
--Josef Wolf Burwell, Peacework Medical Projects
In addition to requiring that new death certificates reflect gender identity, Gabaldón's bill creates a process for changing gender markers on existing death certificates.
Neither bill has received a hearing as yet, which indicates the bills unlikely to receive action in this legislative session.