DMV Asks Boy To Remove Makeup

Teen Told to Remove Makeup to 'Look More Like a Boy' for Driver's License Photo

A South Carolina teen who was forced to remove his makeup to “look more like a boy” for his driver’s license photo wants the chance to have a new photo taken, one where he dresses as he wants to.

Chase Culpepper is 16 years old and chooses to wear makeup and androgynous or girls’ clothing. He went to the DMV on March 3 with his mother to have his driver’s license photo taken, but was told that he couldn’t have his photo taken unless he removed his makeup, being told he had to “look more like a boy”, which he eventually did.

“This is who I am and my clothing and makeup reflect that. The Department of Motor Vehicles should not have forced me to remove my makeup simply because my appearance does not meet their expectations of what a boy should look like. I just want the freedom to be who I am without the DMV telling me that I’m somehow not good enough. I also want to make sure that other gender non-conforming kids and adults do not have to go through this in the future.”

The DMV have justified the decision on the grounds that Culpepper’s makeup is a “disguise” that conceals his identity, which is explicitly forbidden by a clause in the driver’s license photo policy: "At no time can an applicant be photographed when it appears that he or she is purposefully altering his or her appearance so that the photo would misrepresent his or her identity."

The Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund are now representing Culpepper, and have contacted the DMV on his behalf. They’re asking the DMV to retake the photo, makeup intact. They believe that Culpepper’s free speech rights have been violated, as Michael Silverman explains:

“Chase’s freedom to express his gender should not be restricted by DMV staff. He is entitled to be who he is and to express that without interference from government actors. Forcing Chase to remove his makeup prior to taking his driver’s license photo restricts his free speech rights in violation of state and federal constitutional protections.”

Plot Twist: He tried to get a drivers license as the Joker.

I always thought the purpose of photo ID was so others can confirm your identity, not so you can express yourself.

Chase’s freedom to express his gender should not be restricted by DMV staff.

i might actually have to agree with that. The photo is for natural identification purposes. Its one thing if he had blush or eyeliner on or something, but full on makeup can flat out change how you look. (aint that the reason for it anyway?) Otherwise stuff like that would actually happen.

I don't know the details of the case in question, but would people still defend the DMV if they required men to shave beards/mustaches for better identification?

Perhaps photo identification on its own is not a proper way to identify a person, and it should be accepted that people can and do differ from their photo.

I've never heard of a woman being turned away from the DMV for too much make-up... but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

I don't know the details of the case in question, but would people still defend the DMV if they required men to shave beards/mustaches for better identification?

I always thought the purpose of photo ID was so others can confirm your identity, not so you can express yourself.

Looks fine. Nothing garrish.

The problem is that boys can't wear makeup because reasons.

Who is making the judgement call?

I agree this is the purpose. That said, the best way to accomplish this is probably by letting him wear makeup. If you're going to be wearing women's clothes and makeup 99% of the time, looking like a male in your driver's license is actually going to impede the process of others confirming your identity (the stated purpose of the card), and will cause no shortage of problems for the holder of the ID card.

I may not be thinking it through, but I'm not sure what unscrupulous advantage one could obtain by purposely not looking like your ID photo, so I don't see any reason not to let him look like he's going to look to anyone trying to confirm his ID.

The same could be said for the opposite as well, say this person is involved in a crime but the appearance they had when they had the id made vs. the appearance they had when involved in said crime is drastically different?

I'd argue that the base face(un-altered) is a much better indicator of what a face will look like with cosmetics on.

Since cosmetics application can vary immensely, an unaltered face is going to be a lot more useful at identifying an individual.

E.g. I can do a simple mineral application. Mineral foundation

I can do a heavier application using liquid foundation.

I can do a super heavy application using liquid foundation, bronzer and blush.

That third super-heavy application is going to alter the appearence of the face's natural countours. Especially with bronzer I can alter the face structure and jaw line.

you drastically underestimate the stupidity of the vast majority of criminals these days, many of them perform criminal acts out of sheer stupidity or desperation to begin with and often isn't planned very well at all.

beyond that if a person who is a man that usually dresses and alters their appearance to be seen as a woman has an ID made and then they decide to commit a crime with their actual non-altered appearance it just became that much harder to identify the said individual and bring them to justice. although yes i do concede the point that it works the other was as well, someone could just as easily alter their image to perform a crime the opposite way.

regardless once all the make up and modifications come off is how you actually look and that is what should be on your legal ID to start with.

If we went about our day to day lives being identified by facial recgonition experts, this would probably be a good way to go about it.

The clerk at the liquor store isn't going to bother to deconstruct your facial lines though, and if he's faced with an apparent girl with a guy's photo ID, it's easier for him to just deny the sale than try to wade through the person's improbable sounding story of gender identity issues resulting in a gender-swapped liscense.

Is the clerk the only one making the facial recognition though? Law enforcement agencies and facial recognition experts are going to be looking at facial contours and what not.

I agree the boy should be allowed to wear make-up to his "photo shoot" especially if that's how he looks on an average day. My point is when the cosmetics become a bit extreme and he's applying bronzer and blush etc which is going to alter his facial contours.