Organizers announced that they will be launching an all-out campaign to force the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) to drop their anti-trans policy and to restore the ability of Floridians to change the gender markers on their IDs to reflect who they are.

More than a dozen community organizations including HOPE Community Center, Orlando for Gender Equality and Dream Defenders were united behind a banner which read, “DeSantis DMV. Drop the policy. IDs for all.” Florida Representative Anna Eskamani also attended and pledged solidarity with the growing campaign. As reporters gathered to hear the announcement outside the prominent LGBTQ health center, activists chanted “We won’t go back. Not one step back!” and “We will not go back in time, being trans is not a crime.”

Jacob Muldoon, lead organizer with Orlando for Gender Equality spoke first and outlined the context for DeSantis’ latest attack on the LGBTQ community. He explained that community groups organized and mobilized in great numbers during the past legislative session. Through actions like protests, letter-writings, die-ins, and more, activists defeated 21 out of 22 anti-LGBTQ bills attempting to move through the Florida legislature. But now, facing defeat, the GOP is pivoting to an undemocratic, administrative rule change.

Muldoon went on to say, “These political moves by DeSantis and the GOP are unconstitutional and follow a trend of Florida violating federal laws like Real ID and Title IX. DeSantis and the GOP are rogue actors, dead set on their unpopular and hate-filled agenda. We must defend Orlando from Tallahassee.”

Well-known community organizer Shea Cutliff delivered a powerful speech, stating, “As someone who transitioned very early, my ID was like a black American Express card. It was a ticket to so many things. It put a stop to being discriminated against before I even had the chance to interview for a job. It was my chance to stand up for myself in a place as simple as a grocery store by presenting my ID with the proper gender marker reflected on it.”

Joey Knoll, founder and president of SPEKTRUM Health also spoke out against DeSantis’ attempts to erase Florida’s trans population from public life. Knoll rebuked the right-wing governor, “regardless of what Ron DeSantis says, thinks or does: trans people have existed, trans people exist now, and trans people will continue to exist long into the future. Nobody is asking for his permission.”

The coalition ended the conference with a call to action, promising to mobilize and protest at DMVs around the state of Florida in the coming weeks.

#OrlandoFL #LGBTQrights #TransRights #TransLiberation #GayRights #RealID #TitleIX #Desantis #

Saint Paul, MN – As the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives voted on a bill, May 17, to change Minnesota drivers license to comply with the federal government’s REAL ID security program, immigrant rights activists were there demanding that the politicians keep anti-immigrant politics out of the bill.

The protesters carried signs with messages such as “Access to drivers licenses is a human right!” “Representative Smith: Keep anti-immigrant politics out of SF 3589!” and “Dump the Trump-style agenda in REAL ID!”

Immigrant rights activists have fought for many years in Minnesota for immigrants to have the right to get a state drivers license. Current state law doesn’t allow it, so an estimated 100,000 undocumented immigrants in the state must risk arrest and deportation for driving without a license in order to get to work or take children to school, due to the inadequacy of public transit.

The campaign for drivers license equality continues this year, but it is complicated by the federal Department of Homeland Security bullying the state into complying with REAL ID. A REAL ID-compliant license is not available to immigrants.

The federal government is threatening Minnesotans with serious repercussions, like not allowing Minnesota’s drivers license to be used as valid ID in airports or government buildings, if the state drivers license is not brought into compliance with the federal REAL ID guidelines. In a prior legislative session, the Minnesota legislature voted overwhelmingly in a bipartisan vote to refuse to comply with REAL ID because of privacy concerns around people’s private data being shared with the federal government through REAL ID. Under arm-twisting from the federal government, the Minnesota legislature repealed their anti-REAL ID bill earlier this year.

The struggle now is over how a REAL ID-compliant license will be implemented in Minnesota. The bill passed in the Democrat-controlled senate leaves open the possibility of Minnesota following California and a dozen other states to create a second, non-REAL ID compliant version of the state drivers license which would be available to immigrants living in the state that could only be used for driving, but not for federal identification for airports, government buildings, and the like.

On May 17, the House Republican majority passed their version of the bill, which contains language that explicitly prohibits undocumented immigrants from getting any Minnesota drivers license. The Senate bill does not exclude that possibility.

On May 19, a conference committee met to negotiate a compromise between the House and Senate bills. As of May 19 they reportedly have not decided about whether the anti-immigrant language will be included in the final bill that goes to the governor.

Members of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) were at the capitol on May 19 to express their opposition to the House version of the bill, which includes the anti-immigrant provisions.

According to MIRAC member Julio Martinez, “We call on the legislature to stop this Trump-style anti-immigrant agenda and instead to recognize the basic human rights of our community who work and live in Minnesota. We want drivers license access for all in Minnesota.”

#SaintPaulMN #driversLicence #MIRAc #REALID