While people are shooting each other by the dozen in the city of Chicago, Illinois lawmakers have prioritized observing non-existent identifiers on IDs so that no one gets eventually gets triggered. That’s not exactly the triggers lawmakers should be focusing on, but real issues involve having real world experience And, more and more often, we see that politicians increasingly have no concept of reality.
Illinois passed a new law that allows for residents to identify as “gender-neutral” or “non-binary” on state ID cards.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times:
The new policy, which Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law Friday, was largely seen as a victory for nonbinary people — an umbrella term for those whose gender identity doesn’t align with male or female. In states that already offer nonbinary ID cards, the gender is usually designated with an “X” instead of “M” or “F.”[…]
However, the gender-neutral cards cannot be offered until the Illinois Secretary of State’s office updates its driver’s license and ID card issuance system. It’s a process that could take years, according to Dave Druker, a spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office.
Druker said Illinois is locked into a six-year contract with IDEMIA, a multinational identity solutions company formerly known as MorphoTrust USA. The state renewed its contract with IDEMIA in 2018 to implement Illinois’ REAL ID program, and the contract doesn’t end until 2024.
Apparently, this isn’t just a move to help Illinois seem more inclusive. Mike Ziri, the public policy director for the activist group Equality Illinois, commented on the passage of the new law.
“This is about people having a legal document that demonstrates who they authentically are as a person,” Ziri said. “For nonbinary individuals, this is an issue of safety and security.”
Is there an epidemic of people who identify as “non-binary” and “gender-neutral” being targeted for violence? I hope not, but even if there were, it’s highly doubtful that it’s because they had an “M” or an “F” on their state ID. I guess using an “X” instead prevents any discrimination that might befall them.
The difference is that people like Ziri aren’t talking about “safety and security” from physical violence. They’re really talking about “safety and security” from words. Not sure how this helps, but you aren’t exempt from hearing words you don’t like. Everybody gets crapped on occasionally in the game of life. True equality either means that everyone is special or no one is special. Just because you’re different doesn’t make you special. You can't pick and choose when it comes to equality. If they were really for “equality,” we wouldn’t need special designations for people that don’t believe in reality.
People can identify as whatever they want, as far as I’m concerned. Identify as a garbage disposal for all I care. People just need to stop taking whatever it is they believe and pushing it on the rest of us. Remember, there’s no such thing as “your truth” or “my truth,” only the truth.