A male-to-female transgender activist in Florida bragged on Tiktok about using a loophole to change the listed sex on a driver's license, only to find the publicity reversed the change.
One year ago, the Florida House Select Committee on Health Innovation approved legislation HB1639 to require driver's licenses to display the carrier's sex at birth rather than their gender identity. It also required all health benefit plans, insurance, and health maintenance contracts to approve conversion therapy for transgenderism and to cover care for detransitioning if they also cover transitions.
However, on December 20, James Rose, a male-born actress and author, bragged about their new Florida female license on their Tiktok account Jamesissmiling. "BIG WIN FOR THE DOLLS, BIG LOSS FOR RHONDA" wrote Rose to 521,000 followers.
"My God, Ron DeSantis would be screaming right now if he knew about this," said Rose, whose pronouns are she/them.
"Here's the loophole. Listen up if you're replacing your driver's license and not renewing it, but replacing it because you lost it, they have to take all of your information from what they consider a primary document. A passport is considered a primary document, and you can self-identify on your passport," Rose explained.
It was not initially clear the change would be accepted.
"My passport says female, and I showed it to them, and they made a bunch of copies, and they had a whole f___ing team meeting in the back, I s___ you not. There were eight people that were like, looking at it, looking at me, looking back, and I swear I was like, I just felt like I was gonna cry. It's so humiliating sometimes to be in a hostile state," Rose complained. "Then on the way out of the DMV, a guy rolled down the window of his Ford F-250 and yelled 'Nice dick!' at me."
Then, Rose transitioned from oppressed victim to rude gloater.
"Good things don't last forever, but that license is going to last 10 years. I am wishing all trans people a positive and easy get-your-documents-in-order December and Ron DeSantis, you can suck my trans dick," Rose said.
The new year brought bad news for Rose. On January 5, 2025, Dave Kerner, Executive Director of Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) wrote Rose to say the license "was improperly changed from male to female" and had accordingly been cancelled. A proper license indicating male was sent to Rose along with the letter.
"Moreover, the term 'sex' in section 322.17, Florida Statutes, does not refer to a person's internal sense of his or her gender role or identity but is determined by innate and immutable biological and genetic characteristics," Kerner explained.
"Thank you for bringing this error to the Department's attention. Your public comments will help ensure compliance with Florida law. To prevent similar errors in the future, the Department will issue a reminder to County Tax Collectors that, under Florida law, the sex identifier on Florida's driver's licenses is limited to the licensee's sex, not gender identity, and cannot be changed," Kerner said in the letter, posted in redacted form by Libs of TikTok
Kerner said FLHSMV was even conducting an internal audit itself to see if others had snuck in similar sex changes.
"Finally, your public comments suggest that, while you may have misrepresented your sex when applying for a replacement license, you may also have knowingly made a false statement about whether you truly lost your original license." The letter said this was illegal, and that, though it would not do so for Rose, the state could cancel, suspend or revoke the driver's licenses of others who make a similar attempt.
The Libs of TikTok post was reposted by Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
"FLHSMV cancelled his license and sent him a corrected one that says 'male.' That’s some dedicated service. He should thank them," wrote Redfern.
