Chase Culpepper, 16, dresses and wears makeup like a girl. But South Carolina’s DMV won’t let him take a driver’s license photo that way because of a policy prohibiting license applicants from “purposely altering his or her appearance.”
I assume this means South Carolina doesn’t photograph women drivers. But I digress; this isn’t about the vanity of female drivers, it’s about narrow-minded people who exercise governmental powers in a backwater state imposing their personal agenda on a citizen who doesn’t wish to conform to their 19th century cultural expectations. He’s suing the DMV, so a federal court will decide whether they can do that. My guess is the judge will order a make-over. If Culpepper wants to be a girl, that’s his business and none of theirs.
I’m not arguing the policy is wrong; I’m only saying the DMV employees are wrong. It’s a good policy insofar as it prevents criminals and fugitives from hiding behind disguises. Nor should the DMV have to indulge a crank who wants his license photo taken with a paper bag over his head. These bigots simply don’t know how to apply it properly. A guy who always looks like a girl isn’t disguising himself by looking like a girl. The DMV does exactly that by forcing him to look like a guy. It’s violating its own policy. But they’re too blinded by their bigotry to see this.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/teen-sues-south-carolina-dmv-over-license-photo/