Apparently, if you’re gay in Florida, you can either have a marriage license or a driver’s license but you can’t have both. A couple who married in New York and hyphenated their last name was surprised to discover that the DMV had cancelled their drivers’ licenses, claiming that because their name change was the result of a gay marriage, they can no longer have a Florida ID.
Yes, this is crazy; and yes, the couple is suing. In the mean time, one of them has been forced to get a driver’s license with his old non-hyphenated last name.
OK, you may be thinking “what’s the big deal? Just don’t hyphenate your name.” But it’s really not OK for a state to make up rules like that for gays and not for anyone else. Whether it’s something big like immigration, or something smaller like a hyphen on a piece of plastic, treating people differently for arbitrary reasons just isn’t how a good country treats its citizens.
Florida’s in quite a jumble right now with its gay marriage lawsuits. Various cases are flitting their way up through state and federal courts, and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (herself married three times) is doing everything she can to stop queers from getting hitched. This is obviously a losing battle, and at some point soon this couple will have their accurate, hyphenated license. In the mean time, it’s just one more dumb rule that confirms the opinion that the rest of the country has always had about the state.
How about we take this to the next level?
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NoCagada
Married three times and looking like those female high school teachers getting arrested for having sex with 15 year old boys.
RIGay
Nothing about Floriduh surprises me.
Ignorant, inbred, bigots one and all.
Ladbrook
At some point, Florida needs a full influx of gays and lesbians. I’ve always thought it would be cool if just one of our 50 states had a majority LGBT population, so I’m nominating Florida.
DarkZephyr
“and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (herself married three times)”
Is it married 3 times or is it married twice and currently shacked up*? I think its married twice and currently shacked up unless she has recently gotten married to her male partner.
*Now I definitely do not have anything against cohabitation obviously, I am gay and for most of my life that was the only way we gays could do it so I would be a big hypocrite if I was against it, but I bring it up because based on her OWN code she IS a hypocrite.
Gothrykke
I’m here in Florida and I support the idea of these two not having licenses. Not because they got married, that’s plainly ignorant and this AG needs to be tossed in jail for her criminal persecution of our people. No, the reason they shouldn’t have a license is that stupid hyphenated last name crap. It’s not cute, special, or symbolic of anything. Don’t want to give up your name? Don’t. Just don’t add more to it. Hyphenated names are a nightmare for anything accept the people who have them. And what happens when you get with someone who already has a hyphenated name? More names, change the names in the hyphenated, drop them all together? It’s a legal identification, not a nom de plume.
Like George Carlin said “Pick a name!”
Cdn_guy
Couldn’t they have gone to court and legally change their names before going to the DMV?
On a second note if Florida is so uptight with their religious views, then why haven’t they outlawed divorce?
ronwol
@DarkZephyr: I live in Florida, and yes “it is married twice, and currently shacking up”. This passed summer she and her paramour flew about 100 people to one of the Islands to attend their wedding, but when it came time for the ceremony everyone was told that it wouldn’t be taking place so everyone just had a big party. To this day she will not answer questions as to why the marriage didn’t take place. One rumor flying around is that her paramour is still married to someone else who won’t give his a divorce. So they continue to live together. True she is a hypocrite.
bjohnmasters
@DarkZephyr: Yes…she’s only been legally married twice, and is currently shacking up with a much older man.
Also, there was supposed to be a wedding…in fact, a rather big deal with Rick Scott, and some other Florida big whigs all flying down to the Bahamas somewhere for the wedding. But once everyone got there, suddenly there wasn’t an actual wedding, but some kind of “ceremony” where the two of them just announced their love for one-another (or some kind of weird sounding excuse for the previously planned party). This is one weird girl.
Also, I would love it for a few of you to go find and watch her speech on election night. If she wasn’t drunk, I’ll eat my hat.
marc sfe
@Gothrykke: Guess what, it’s none of your damn business what anyone wishes to have as their last name. It’s called free will and choice. These two wish to share last names so that is their business and NOT yours.
marc sfe
@bjohnmasters: I believe it was the Cayman Islands and they had a “commitment” ceremony. what a fucking hypocrite she is!
lykeitiz
@RIGay: In all fairness, the “duh” part comes from Central & North FL only. That would be where you find all the inbred bigots, as you put it. South FL is quite educated & metropolitan……and Democrat of course. As recently as this year, efforts to split the state in two have been reported so that the north can have their Repug representation without staining the southern part of the state, where actual business is conducted.
As for Bondi & Gov Rick Scott, they have media amnesty. During the Gov campaign, it was not mentioned once that Scott’s original Lt Gov stepped down over allegations of funneling money into internet cafes for gambling purposes. Where else would that not have been a campaign issue?
Gothrykke
@marc sfe: Cute. Very cute.
It’s a standup routine.
willeau
@Cdn_guy:
When you get married, your name change is legal. You do not have to go to the courts. No heterosexual couple does that.
willeau
@lykeitiz:
Sorry, but Texas is doing the exact same thing1