By VICTORIA MICHAELS,
Miss Florida F.i. 2011

My name is Victoria Michaels and I am the current reigning Miss Florida F.I. 2011 for the LGBT Community. I am a pre-op transsexual (male to female) and I have been living everyday life as a full-time female since 1999. I serve as an advocate for the LGBT Community and I currently work as a premiere hostess at the world-famous Boardwalk Bar in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

As of June 10, 2010, the U.S. Department of State announced new guidelines for issuing passports to
transgender people. It states that any applicant for a gender marker change on their passport will need to submit a
certification from a physician that they have received “appropriate clinical treatment” for gender transition. Most importantly, gender reassignment surgery is not required anymore under the new policy. The National Center for Transgender Equality and other advocates stressed to the State Department that the old policy unnecessarily called attention to transgender travelers whose appearance and gender marker were at odds. I can confess through personal experience that in some airport destinations, my gender marker still reading “male” created an uncomfortable situation because I was “outed” as transgender either in an unwelcoming environment or in the presence of prejudiced security personnel.

The government web site goes on to say that the new rules represent a significant advance in providing safe, humane and dignified treatment of transgender people. I went to the Florida DMV to ask if they would honor the new passport guidelines for gender marker change on my license and I learned through the Supervisor, Aaron Lee, at the Pompano DMV Branch, that Florida is now following very similar guidelines for gender change for transgender
individuals such as me. I was elated that after all these years of living as a female, I could finally have it officially read “female” on my license. There are exact written details in the new guidelines (Florida DMV provided me with a copy of the official license manual for gender change specifying what information my physician must provide and be sworn to under the penalty and perjury laws of the United States of America). After reviewing the new guidelines carefully with my physician, we both considered me to be a perfect candidate, since I lived every day as a full-time female and also had my name legally changed to Victoria Michaels Lavelle in 1999.

I returned to the Florida DMV to have my gender marker changed and, after standing in line for 3 hours, to my amazement I was denied. I was informed that only a supervisor could change the gender marker on my license and it seemed the supervisor was not at work that day. I was flabbergasted because I had followed all of the instructions
word for word, yet I was turned away. I made two more attempts at the Florida DMV in the coming weeks and each
time I was denied by two managers, Jacqui and Anthony. Each time I returned to Florida DMV in Pompano, the managers were rude and they spoke loudly about my gender change in front of other people, which was embarrassing because I am totally passable as a female and these managers were outing my personal business to everyone standing nearby.

I thought the entire purpose of the new gender change law was to prevent transgender people from being put in an uncomfortable situations like this. In addition, the Florida Driver’s License Manual guidelines also state that anyone working for DMV must provide transgender individuals changing their gender marker with extreme discretion and treat us with respect. I followed all of the guidelines, yet Florida DMV fell short of holding up their end. On my fourth and final trip back to Florida DMV, they once again denied me and I literally had to stand up and scream out “SHAME ON YOU PEOPLE FOR DENYING ME MY RIGHTS!” It deeply saddens me that even with today’s cultural changes – that even though new laws are put into effect to give us equal rights and protections – there are places like Florida DMV that fail to educate their employees and staff of new guidelines and laws.

Finally, after contacting numerous equal rights organizations, I was able to have the gender marker on my Florida license changed to FEMALE. When the supervisor, Aaron Lee, had finally come to work at his branch, he seemed to laugh the situation off and made a snide remark that he would have to train his staff better when dealing with the new guidelines for gender change. He also informed me that any one of those managers could have changed my gender and he apologized for their behavior.

Editor’s Note: Aaron Lee has told Florida Agenda that his staff has been informed of the regulations and guidelines and does not believe there will be a repeat of this unfortunate situation. He also is sorry Ms.