Missouri changes gender ID rules following incident at area gym

ST. LOUIS – It has become more difficult for Missourians to change their gender on state-issued IDs. An incident at an Ellisville gym involving a transgender woman using the women’s locker room led to the rule change, which the Missouri Department of Revenue confirmed this week.

The department confirms that people who want to change their gender on their driver’s license must now provide either medical documentation showing they’ve had gender reassignment surgery or a court order declaring their gender designation.

Missouri Department of Revenue spokesperson Anne Marie Moy provided FOX 2 with the following statement:

“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.”

It’s a change that LGBTQ advocates call a step in the wrong direction. Robert Fischer with PROMO Missouri, an LGBTQ+ public policy and advocacy organization, said the change unfairly targets transgender and nonbinary Missourians.

“There are Missourians who cannot live a full life because their IDs are not matching who they are,” Fischer said.

Fischer felt the old guidelines for changing your gender on state-issued IDs, which included a note from a medical professional—including a doctor, psychologist, or therapist—were more appropriate and financially accessible compared to surgery or a court order.

Fischer fears the change will hurt LGBTQ Missourians.

“Not having the correct ID immediately makes them a target for bullying, harassment, and denial of services,” Fischer said. “It’s something that no Missourian should have to go through.”

State Rep. Justin Sparks (R-Wildwood) was the one who contacted the Department of Revenue and the Attorney General’s Office back on August 2 following the incident at Lifetime Fitness in Ellisville. Sparks said his constituents, who are members at the club, contacted him after they claimed a person who identified as a transgender woman was acting inappropriately in the women’s locker room.

Sparks said the debate is not about singling out any person or group.

“I don’t want anybody to feel targeted. I don’t want anybody to feel hated on,” Sparks said. “I understand people feel a certain way. But you have to draw the line somewhere. And I draw the line at bathrooms,” he added.

Still, even with the change to the ID rules, Sparks argues the department is out-of-line for changing policies behind closed doors.

“Something as sensitive and important as gender, it needs to have its day in the legislature and changed statutorily,” Sparks said. “To simply, quietly change policy back and add things like court orders and surgeries… who decided that?”

Rep. Sparks said if he’s re-elected, he plans to bring the issue back up in January at the state capitol.

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