Trans Floridians and allies staged a “die-in” at an Orlando Department of Motor Vehicles office Friday morning in coordination with similar actions across the state, in protest of new directives by the Florida DMV.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles last month, in a shocking move, announced a policy that bans people from changing the gender listed on their Florida drivers’ licenses. The move has been interpreted as yet another attack by the DeSantis administration on transgender individuals.
Violations of the policy would constitute “fraud,” according to the January memo from FLHSMV Deputy Executive Director Robert Kynoch , and “subject an offender to criminal and civil penalties, including cancellation, suspension, or revocation of his or her driver license.”
At around 10:30 a.m. Friday, activists gathered at the DMV office on University Boulevard but were barred from entering the building by Orange County Sheriff’s Office deputies.
“Leaders of the direct action remained calm, peaceful, and proceeded with the die-in on the sidewalk,” said J.D. Casto, who was there photographing the action for Orlando Weekly. “While activists lay on the ground silently and peacefully protesting, other activists passed out informational flyers and spoke with members of the public regarding the recent memo that directly impacts trans Floridians.”
Lana Dunn, one of the local protest’s organizers, told Orlando Weekly, “We’re here today to protest — peacefully, of course — the guidance issued by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles which rescinds their ability to change gender markers on IDs for transgender individuals.”
Dunn said the die-in was meant to last for 37 minutes, explaining, “That’s representative of the 37% of respondents to the United States transgender survey here in Florida who reported abuse, discrimination and even assault as a result of presenting an identification which did not match their gender presentation.”
The new policy was notably enacted ahead of HB 1639, legislation currently advancing in the Florida Legislature that would similarly ban trans Floridians from having a driver’s license or identification card that doesn’t correspond with their sex assigned at birth.
Despite the setback of prevented from entering the building, the die-in happened outside, and there were no arrests during the protest.
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