DMV forces teen to remove makeup before getting license
Jun 18, 2014, 4:30 PM
Chase Culpepper was as excited as any 16-year-old is when he passed a driving test to get his license.
However, DMV employees in Anderson, S.C. told him he had to remove the makeup he was wearing before he could get his driver’s license picture taken.
According to The New York Daily News, Culpepper is a non-conforming teen who prefers male pronouns, wears girl’s clothing and makeup every day as an outward expression of his inner self.
“The government should not tell him there is something wrong with him just because he doesn’t meet the DMV’s expectations about what a boy should look like,” a spokesperson for the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund said.
The organization said the boy’s right to freedom of gender expression was silenced. They sent a letter to the South Carolina DMV’s executive director, Kevin Shwedo, asking for the teen to get the opportunity to get his photo retaken.
The Anderson DMV has not commented since on the incident.
