Over 250 Oregon Residents Mark ‘X’ as Gender as State Becomes First to Allow Gender-Neutral Licences

More than 250 Oregon residents marked “X” as their gender on state IDs after Oregon became the first state to allow licenses without a specified gender designation.

A total of 266 people applied for the “X” marked licenses since the Oregon’s Transportation Commission approved the rule change July 3, the Daily Mail reported.

Only a handful of those who applied for driver’s licenses and IDs opted to choose the “X’ marked licenses, however. The Register-Guard reports that the 266 people who applied for the new licenses make up a fraction of the 40,000 licenses the state issues each month.

The change was designed to allow males, females, or those who identify themselves as “non-binary” to mark an “X” signifying that gender is “not specified” on driver’s licenses and ID cards.

The commission decided to implement the change after a Portland judge ruled last year that veteran Jaime Shupe can be legally recognized as neither a man or a woman.

Washington, DC, is the only other jurisdiction where gender-neutral IDs exist, although other states such as California and New York are considering legislation that would allow gender-neutral IDs.