The West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles will no longer dictate how transgender residents can dress for driver’s license photos, reversing a policy that many LGBT advocates consider unconstitutional.
The state formally changed its policy July 1 after five transgender women threatened to sue, saying they were harassed or forced to remove makeup while trying to update their driver’s license information last year, according to the New York-based Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represented them.
The policy shift, announced Tuesday, marks the second time in recent months that a state has relaxed rules requiring transgender men and women to alter their usual appearance for identification photos.