Last week, I spent an afternoon in the local DMV office getting my driver license renewed. I had to sit and wait for about ninety minutes in a room full of people who reminded me how much I dread the prospect of universal health care. Then, I was finally assisted by a government agent who reminded me how much I dread the prospect of universal health care.
Most of the people at the North Carolina DMV aren’t very pleasant. That’s why I’ve decided to move to Washington State where the people who update your driver license are much more accommodating and friendly.
In Washington, they allow you to change the address on your driver license for just $10. And they give you ten days to do it. That’s a real bargain for college students who are constantly moving from one place to the next.
Washington also allows you to change the name on your driver license for just $10. That’s great for those women who are getting married or guys like me who are having a midlife crisis and considering reforming the bands we used to play with in college. When I do that I’m going to change my name to “The artist formerly known as Mike.”
But, of all the great things they do for the Washington driver, none compares to the new “change your gender designation” option. And you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home to do it. You can sit back with a Starbuck’s latte and mail a written request to:
Assistant Director for Driver Policy and Programs
Department of Licensing
PO Box 9030
Olympia, WA 98507-9030
The request must include the usual information such as the name, address, and gender designation shown on one’s current driver license. It must also include the name, address, and gender designation to be shown on one’s new driver license.
Aside from those basics, all one really needs is a letter on official letterhead from a licensed medical, osteopathic physician or psychologist stating that the appropriate medical treatment has been initiated. By that, Washington State means the surgery needed to change one’s sex rather than the psychiatric treatment needed to “cure” one’s compulsion to engage in medically supervised genital mutilation.
I think these are really good and progressive changes of which the State of Washington can be proud. But more should be done.
First of all, I think Washington should amend its laws to accommodate those who regularly change their gender designation. For example, a University of Texas journalism professor once stated that he/she preferred to be a man on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and a woman on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. (Note: I am not certain what he/she did on Sunday although I would recommend a “day of rest” from any gender designation).
We need to accommodate these people by allowing them to keep two driver licenses to use on alternating days. Furthermore, there should be no requirement that they have documentation that “appropriate medical treatment has been initiated.” The term “appropriate” is entirely too judgmental. Plus, we do not yet have a national health care plan that assists those who are afflicted both by poverty and gender identity confusion.
I once learned – at a transgendered law seminar – that gender is between the ears not between the legs. Our government policies should embrace that notion fully.
When Washington State does finish with its accommodation of those experiencing gender identity confusion it should turn “appropriate” attention to those who experience racial identity confusion.
Even Barack Obama has reported harassment at the hands of the police – most notably when he was a student at Harvard. His experience underscores the importance of allowing bi-racial men to have a driver license that says “white” in order to avoid a police beating – whether in the Harvard yard or elsewhere.
But we should also let bi-racial people have a driver license that says “black” – or whatever their other race happens to be. They can use this other license on occasions where they need to benefit from affirmative action or otherwise use their marginal minority status as a crutch.
The important thing is that we begin to see public offices in a new way. They are not only there to perform the basic functions of government. They exist to engage in social engineering at all levels. And they exist to alleviate discomfort – even when it is self-inflicted.
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Mike S. Adams was born in Columbus, Mississippi on October 30, 1964. While a student at Clear Lake High School in Houston, TX, his team won the state 5A soccer championship. Mike Adams graduated from C.L.H.S. in 1983 with a 1.8 GPA. Mike Adams was ranked 734 among a class of 740, largely as a result of flunking English all four years of high school. After obtaining an Associate's degree in psychology from San Jacinto College, Mike Adams moved on to Mississippi State University where he joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity. While living in the fraternity house, his GPA rose to 3.4, allowing him to finish his B.A., and then to pursue a Master's in Psychology. In 1990, Mike Adams turned down a chance to pursue a PhD in psychology from the University of Georgia, opting instead to remain at Mississippi State to study Sociology/Criminology. This decision was made entirely on the basis of his reluctance to quit his night job as member of a musical duo. Playing music in bars and at fraternity parties and weddings financed his education. Mike Adams also played for free beer.
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Upon getting his doctorate in 1993, Adams, then an atheist and a Democrat, was hired by UNC-Wilmington to teach in the criminal justice program. A few years later, Adams abandoned his atheism and also became a Republican. He also nearly abandoned teaching when he took a one-year leave of absence to study law at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1998. After returning to teach at UNC-Wilmington, Adams won the Faculty Member of the Year award (issued by the Office of the Dean of Students) for the second time in 2000.
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After his involvement in a well publicized free speech controversy in the wake of the 911 terror attacks, Adams became a vocal critic of the diversity movement in academia. After making appearances on shows like Hannity and Colmes, the O'Reilly Factor, and Scarborough Country, Adams was asked to write a column for Townhall.com.
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Today Mike Adams enjoys the privilege of expressing himself both as a teacher and a writer. Mike Adams is also an avid hunter and reader of classic literature. Mike Adams published his first book, Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel, in 2004. His second book, Feminists Say the Darndest Things: A Politically Incorrect Professor Confronts "Womyn" On Campus, was published in 2008.
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