Florida cancels transgender activist's new ID after changed gender label

Romy Ellenbogen, Tampa Bay Times on Jan 8, 2025

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration canceled a transgender activist’s driver’s license after the popular TikToker publicly posted about changing the stated gender on their ID.

James Rose, a nonbinary content creator who uses they and she pronouns, posted a video in December about changing the gender on their license from male to female. Rose talked about using a “loophole” in the process to replace lost licenses.

“My god, Ron DeSantis would be screaming right now if he knew about this,” Rose said in the video, which appears to be now removed from Rose's social media pages. “This was not easy, we’re not even supposed to be able to do this in this state.”

In a letter dated Monday, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles told Rose that it had canceled their license and replaced it with one that listed their gender as male.

Though the letter had the recipient’s name redacted, Libs of TikTok, a right-wing social media account that stokes outrage by sharing videos from LGBTQ+ people and others, shared it along with Rose’s video. The account was the first to post publicly about the state’s move.

DeSantis press secretary Jeremy Redfern on Tuesday retweeted Libs of TikTok’s post on X and posted, “FLHSMV cancelled his license and sent him a corrected one that says ‘male.’ That’s some dedicated service. He should thank them.”

Representatives from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and the governor’s office did not respond to questions from the Tampa Bay Times about how the video originally came to the state’s attention, or about how Libs of TikTok obtained the state’s letter to Rose.

Rose did not return a request for comment sent by email as of Wednesday afternoon.

Florida abruptly changed its policy for changing gender markers in January last year without any public input, saying in a memo to county tax collectors that changing a license “dependent on one’s internal sense of gender” was a violation of the law.

The 2024 letter also said that misrepresenting one’s gender on a driver’s license constitutes fraud.

The move was decried by transgender Floridians and LGBTQ+ activists, who called it another attack from DeSantis' government on transgender individuals.

On Tuesday, DeSantis communications director Bryan Griffin posted on social media that “Florida operates on truth, and Florida driver’s licenses will only reflect an individual’s true sex.”

Rose, in their video, talked about using a passport that identifies them as female as documentation to replace their driver’s license. Passports allow for self-identified gender, Rose said.

Rose’s video is celebratory, but Rose also talks about the discomfort they felt having multiple employees looking back and forth between them and their passport identifying them as female.

“It’s so humiliating sometimes to be in a hostile state,” Rose said.

The letter the state sent to Rose also questioned whether Rose lied about “whether you truly lost your original license,” pointing to a state statute that prohibits someone from making a false statement on their application and noting that a violation can lead to a suspended or revoked driver’s license.

The letter said that the department “intends to conduct an inquiry into the facts and circumstances surrounding your application for a replacement license.”

The state in its letter said it would send a reminder to county tax collectors about its policy regarding gender changes and would also conduct an audit to “determine whether similar errors have been made previously.”

The Pasco and Pinellas tax collectors offices said Wednesday afternoon they did not receive any reminder memo from the state.

The state’s move to cancel and replace Rose’s license sparked outcry on social media. Alejandra Caraballo, a civil rights attorney and transgender advocate, said on social media that Florida’s actions create a “public trans ban.”

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