A lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of a South Carolina teen who was allegedly forced to take off his makeup for his driver's license picture, WYFF-TV reported.
The federal suit against the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles claims that Chase Culpepper, who considers himself gender non-conforming, was sexually discriminated against when a DMV employee told him to remove is makeup because he did not look like a male.
"The [DMV] employee said I could not wear a disguise to take my photo, and according to her, me wearing makeup would be a disguise," Culpepper previously told WYFF of the March 3 incident.
The 16-year-old wears makeup and feminine clothing every day. He complied with the DMV and took off his makeup for the picture, but he and his mother feel his rights were violated.
"He was absolutely devastated," Culpepper's mother, Teresa, told the station. "That's who he is 24/7."
When Culpepper's story spread in June, a DMV representative said the employee was following a policy that prohibits a person from "purposely altering his or her appearance so that the photo would misrepresent his or her identity."
But for Culpepper, his makeup is his identity.
"I want to make sure this doesn't happen to other people who are just trying to be themselves," he said according to Reuters.
Teresa and the Transgender Legal Defense Education Fund filed the lawsuit on Culpepper's behalf. It attacks the DMV's photograph policy as unconstitutional, vague and allows employees to override a person's right to free speech when it comes to deciding how one should appear in their photograph.
"It is not the role of the DMV or any government agency or employee to decide how men and women should look," Michael Silverman, executive director of the TLDEF, told WFYY.
