From Newsgroup: talk.politics.misc

When California began allowing residents to identify as nonbinary on
their driver’s licenses in 2019, few chose to do so. Among 16-year-olds
— the age of eligibility — 38 chose the nonbinary designation that first
year. In 2023, the number peaked at 164.

Then, something changed. By 2024, the number of 16-year-olds identifying
as nonbinary was 95. By 2025, it declined to 46. The trend tracks for 17-year-olds, where nonbinary licenses declined from 418 to 203 between
2024 and 2025.

The total number of people of any age identifying as nonbinary on their California licenses has continued to increase, from 3,050 in 2019 to
21,140 in 2024 to 24,236 in 2025, according to data from the California Department of Motor Vehicles. But the total number of 16-year-olds
getting licenses, nonbinary or not, was slightly higher in 2025 than in
2023.

This data captures only what teenagers are willing to put on a
government document — not necessarily how they identify in private. The
decline among nonbinary identification of 16-year-olds raises the
question of whether they fear political persecution or are shifting away
from a cultural fad.


Over the last several years, since California’s Gender Recognition Act
went into effect in 2019, allowing drivers to request an “X” gender
designation instead of the usual “F” or “M” on their licenses hundreds
of state bills regarding transgender and nonbinary people have been
introduced across the country, regulating everything from bathroom
access to gender-affirming healthcare for minors.

President Donald Trump escalated the fight with executive orders that eliminated nonbinary gender markers(opens in new tab) on federal
documents and directed agencies to recognize only two sexes. More than
20 states allow nonbinary identification on driver’s licenses, though
several — including Florida, Indiana, and Texas — have moved to restrict
or block such designations(opens in new tab) in recent years.

Phillip Hammack, a psychology professor and director of the Sexual &
Gender Diversity Laboratory at UC Santa Cruz(opens in new tab), said
these policy shifts may explain the decline in nonbinary identification
among California teens.

“It’s hard not to consider the political situation as part of the
story,” Hammack said.

Rather than a change in how young Californians privately understand
their gender, the drop reflects a reluctance to have that identity
reflected on a government ID, he said.

“There’s a legitimate fear among young people and their parents of
‘Maybe this shouldn’t be on my documents right now,’” he said.

In the mid-2010s, nonbinary, bisexual, and asexual identities had moved
from the margins to the mainstream, particularly on college campuses. By
2024, roughly 9.3% of U.S. adults identified as LGBTQ+, according to
Gallup — nearly three times as many as in 2012. Among Gen Z, the share
has climbed to around 23%.

Where the 2010s and early 2020s brought a broad liberalizing shift in
American attitudes, more recent polling points in the opposite direction
— toward greater support for certain restrictions on transgender and
nonbinary life.

A February 2025 survey by the Pew Research Center found(opens in new
tab) that a majority of Americans favor requiring transgender athletes
to compete on teams matching their sex assigned at birth. Support for gender-affirming medical care for minors has also declined.

https://sfstandard.com/2026/04/14/california-nonbinary-drivers-licenses/

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