Legislature approves adding third gender option on state forms

Mainers could see “X” as a gender option on most state forms by the end of the calendar year, after a proposal to add a third option for gender cleared both the House and Senate this week.

The proposal stems from a resolve passed last year that required the Department of Administrative and Financial Services to create a plan for adding a third gender option, after a Maine court ordered the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to begin issuing state ID cards and drivers licenses with the option of a third gender marker in 2018. 

The resolve came from Rep. Erin Sheehan (D-Biddeford), who had described it as a step to align forms across state institutions, improve the accuracy of state data on residents, as well as ensure Mainers have an option that matches who they are. 

The resulting bill from Rep. Matt Moonen (D-Portland) directs DAFS, the state court administrator and the executive director of the legislative council to update all printed forms, applications and other documents that require a person’s gender to add an option to designate “X” for gender by December 31, 2024.

On Wednesday, the House voted 81-64 to pass the bill, and on Thursday the Senate followed with a vote 22-11.

Moonen said on the House floor that he viewed the change as “pretty common sense that we’re moving toward consistencies,” adding that Maine already allows people to mark gender as X on their birth certificates and the U.S. began allowing for “X” on passports in 2022. Despite this, some Republican lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham of Winter Harbor, objected to their being more than two genders. 

The “X” gender marker is used by people who identify as nonbinary or whose gender identity is not accurately reflected by male or female. Gender, a socially constructed characteristic, is different from sex, which refers to genetic and physical characteristics. “X” is also sometimes used by intersex people, who are born with genetic and physical sex characteristics that do not conform to binary classifications of male or female bodies.

In early January, DAFS presented the plan to add a third gender marker to the Judiciary Committee, outlining a phased transition to avoid fronting millions of dollars.   

According to estimates from the State of Maine Office of Information Technology, across all agencies that make up Maine state government, it would cost $7.5 million to add the third gender option, with the majority of that coming from about 10 agencies. 

For offices that cannot absorb associated costs into their current budgets, they’ll have until 2027 to transition — allowing time to ask for that money in the next biennial budget. 

Rep. Rachel Henderson (R-Rumford) expressed concern about forthcoming costs on the House floor, as the bill itself does not have a fiscal note but is, as she described, a piece of a larger puzzle. 

The largest structural changes to be expected involve healthcare and insurance. Offices dealing in those services would be allowed to wait to add the third gender marker until their next system upgrade, according to DAFS plan.  

There are also some state forms that are connected to contracts with private vendors. Those contracts would be allowed to sunset, and then the X gender option would be added as a requirement as part of new contracts.

The version that passed both chambers offers some exceptions, including forms created pursuant to federal law or for the purpose of multi-government cooperation and uniformity.