A state judge in Missoula ruled Thursday that the Montana Department of Justice must issue a driver’s license to a youth applicant who declined to indicate their sex as “male” or “female” on their application form, instead writing in a nonbinary response to match the sex listed on their b irth certificate. The Missoula District Court judge, Shane Vannatta, also barred DOJ’s Motor Vehicle Division from denying driver’s licenses to other applicants “who indicate their legal sex on the driver’s license application.” In his ruling, Vannatta wrote that the department’s actions violate the state Constitution’s equal protection clause, saying it was unfair of the state to deny the applicant a driver’s license with the “NB” gender marker it had previously used for the applicant’s birth certificate.  The equal protection clause exists, the judge wrote, in part “to ensure that Montana’s citizens are not subject to arbitrary and discriminatory state action.”  The lawsuit was brought by Sara and Bryan Berndt on behalf of a child described as “M.B.” in court filings. The Berndts were represented in the matter by a legal team that included the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, which celebrated the decision in a press release. “Today the Court agreed that the practice of gender identity discrimination violates our constitution and our state Human Rights Act by unlawfully singling out transgender and nonbinary Montanans for unequal treatment,” ACLU of Montana Executive Director Akilah Deernose said in the release. “This is a tremendous victory for all Montanans who seek to go about their lives without fear of discrimination.” The Montana Department of Justice, which is led by Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen, criticized the ruling in a statement Friday, indicating it planned to appeal the matter to the Montana Supreme Court. “There was no sex discrimination. It’s really not surprising that this court sided with the ACLU,” said DOJ Communications Director Amanda Braynack. “We plan to defend common sense on appeal.” The court order indicates that the matter has been in limbo since April 2022, when the youth passed a driving test in Missoula and submitted a paper license application where they handwrote “NB” instead of checking the “male” or “female” box on the form. However, the Motor Vehicle Division didn’t process the form, in part because its database system wasn’t configured to accept sex markers other than male or female. After several meetings, the court order says, DOJ attorney Derek Oestreicher told an attorney representing the Berndts that the state would not issue the youth a driver’s license unless the youth applied with their “biological sex” as opposed to the “legal sex” listed on the birth certificate. After the Berndts filed a complaint with the Montana Human Rights Bureau, a hearing officer inside the agency sided with the family in 2023, directing motor vehicle officials to issue the license. That decision was reversed by the Montana Human Rights Commission in 2024, teeing up the district court lawsuit that produced this week’s ruling again reversing the decision to favor the family. Alex Rate, an ACLU attorney, said in a Friday interview that the child plaintiff, who is now an adult, was unable to get a driver’s license as a teenager as a result of the dispute. Rate also said the case is one of several pending Montana court cases related to how the state treats sex designations in identity documents. “We have multiple cases that are percolating through the court system related to transgender rights,” Rate said. “Any decision that reaffirms the principle that discrimination on the basis of gender identity is sex discrimination is persuasive for other cases.” The post Judge orders Montana DMV to issue driver’s license to youth who applied as nonbinary appeared first on Montana Free Press. ...read more read less