Shadow Politics, July 30, 2017
Washington DC was the first city in the United States to issue gender neutral driver’s licenses and identification (ID) documents. The new policy went into effect June 27. It allows people to choose “X” as their gender if they do not identify as either male or female. Our guest, Nic Sakurai, became the first person in the United States to officially receive a driver’s license with an “X” as an unspecified/other gender marker on June 27, 2017. Nic first became a resident of Washington, DC in 2003, and has been featured as an agender and queer resident in a photo campaign by the Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs. Sakurai is a longtime activist, educator and leader, having worked for a national higher education advocacy nonprofit, for American University and for the University of Maryland. They have been active in LGBTQ+ social justice work for more than 18 years.
Guest, Nic Sakurai
![Nic Sakurai Nic Sakurai](/sites/default/files/pastshowheadliners/guest-pics-6-24-17/nic-sakurai-picture.jpg)
Nic Sakurai, MA, MBA, CPC (they/them pronouns) became the first person in the United States to officially receive a driver’s license with an “X” as an unspecified/other gender markeron June 27, 2017.
Sakurai is a longtime activist, educator and leader, having worked for a national higher education advocacy nonprofit, for American University and for the University of Maryland. They have been active in LGBTQ+ social justice work for more than 18 years.
Nic first became a resident of Washington, DC in 2003, and has been featured as an agender and queer resident in a photo campaign by the Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs. They also advocated for the use of gender-neutral language in the constitution proposed by the New Columbia Statehood Commission. (https://statehood.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/statehood/publication/attachments/Constitution-of-the-State-of-Washington-DC.pdf)
Shadow Politics
![U.S. Senator Michael D. Brown U.S. Senator Michael D. Brown](/sites/default/files/bbsradiotalkshows/host-image-6-8-18/senator-michael-brown.jpg)
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