My driver’s license is just like yours. It has my photo, date of birth, and other standard descriptors. Under gender, however, you’ll find not M or F, but X.

In 2017, I became the first person in the country to obtain an official nonbinary, gender-neutral X-marker on my driver’s license. I live in Washington D.C., which was among the first jurisdictions in the U.S. to officially offer an X marker to recognize nonbinary people as well as those who simply want a gender-neutral form of ID. At the same time, D.C. also removed requirements for a medical or third-party certification of gender to correct a gender marker. I’m proud to have joined LGBTQ+ activists in D.C. in making these policies happen.

Movements for trans and nonbinary equity have made significant progress since I got my nonbinary ID in 2017. Across the country, more than 124 million people live in jurisdictions that are now issuing state IDs with X markers, and over 93 million live in jurisdictions that issue birth certificates with an X designation.

Still, only 11 percent of trans people nationwide have an accurate name and gender marker on all IDs and records. Sixty-eight percent do not have any IDs displaying their accurate name and gender. And at the federal level, the government still does not permit gender neutral or nonbinary markers on passports, social security records, and most other federal documents. It’s time for our federal government to catch up. The Biden administration has an opportunity to affirm trans and nonbinary rights by permitting X gender markers on all federal IDs.

The first time I used my nonbinary driver’s license was to pass through airport security, and I prepared for the worst. I brought copies of the D.C. policy and newspaper articles about it, so if somebody were to question me or say I had a fraudulent ID, I would be able to show them that it’s real. But nobody even seemed to notice or comment upon the X listed for gender. I was glad. I have flown many times since then without ever having someone question the gender on my ID.

I had a similar experience when I tried to use my first birth certificate with an X marker, which I got from Connecticut in 2019. I decided to try it out on my way home from a cruise trip later that year. Again, I planned for the worst. I made an emergency plan, alerted some friends, and put a 24-hour legal hotline on speed dial in case I was detained. And again, despite all my fears and all my preparation, the immigration officials did not seem to notice the X gender marker.

My X-marked ID means a lot to me, especially as a U.S. citizen of Japanese descent. In Japan, the term x-gender (x-jendā) has existed since the 1990s to describe gender nonbinary people. Other countries recognize X designations under international passport standards, and a growing number of countries include an X designation option on their passports. But my U.S. passport still does not have an X marker.

President Biden promised to support X-marker IDs when he was running for office, but I’m not going to wait around for that promise to officially materialize. I believe I have a legal and human right to access accurate ID documents. All my other documents say I am nonbinary. So why shouldn’t my passport reflect the same? Anything else would be a lie.

On Inauguration Day, I went to a passport acceptance facility to apply for an accurate, nonbinary passport in person. To prepare, I assembled various documents to support my case, including my nonbinary birth certificate and driver’s license, as well as a court order that declares I am nonbinary. I also provided medical certification, which is something that the Department of State currently requests of all transgender people applying for a corrected gender marker, but which presents massive barriers to accessing accurate ID. Getting medical certification could mean finding and paying for unnecessary medical appointments just for a provider to fill out paperwork.

Even the American Medical Association says the gender on our IDs should be “as reported by the individual and without need for verification by a medical professional.” Medical certification is a waste of time and money. We are in the midst of a horrifying pandemic, and forcing healthcare providers to go through unnecessary appointments and paperwork is ridiculous. It also forces trans people to make difficult decisions about potentially spending hundreds of dollars on medical appointments and having to come out to a physician, which is not always the safest and best choice, especially when many providers still have little to no training on trans and nonbinary issues.

When I first came out to my physician as nonbinary and asked for his support, I was terrified that he would say no, and that it would deteriorate the trust in our relationship, or even end it. Fortunately, he gave me a fierce yes, and told me he agreed that the government’s requirement of medical certification for this matter is absurd.

In my doctor’s certification letter, he explained that my access to nonbinary ID is important for my health and wellbeing, which is his priority. He also explained that it aligns with contemporary medical standards, and it’s important for the accurate counting of nonbinary people in government demographic data. Whether it’s for the U.S. Census or for social research, we need to know the differences and disparities in our communities. When trans or nonbinary people are not included in demographic data, it means our communities do not get the funding and support we deserve. That’s one of the reasons why the federal government should ensure access to accurate gender markers not just for passports, but for Social Security and other records as well. As a nonbinary person, I want to be counted.

I have a lot of privilege that has allowed me to break barriers and move through the world: I have had access to higher education, a certain amount of time and resources, networks of activist friends, and lawyers who can help. And yet, I’ve experienced street harassment and even physical assault because of being nonbinary. I’ve also seen editorials written to demean me, and horrifying comments on news articles saying that nonbinary people should be sent to a “guillotine” or “gas chamber.” All of these acts of violence seek to erase me. I do not need the federal government erasing me, too.

It’s a depressing and degrading experience for your government to deny your existence. I am lucky to have had a positive outcome with my physician and IDs, but for many trans or nonbinary people, being forced to get medical certification just to have an accurate passport can be devastating to their health and finances. Nobody should be forced to present documents that tell lies about who you are, and trans and nonbinary people should not have to endure cruel legal confrontations in order to access our human rights. The reality is that cisgender people are not forced to get these same medical certifications when they apply for passports. It’s a discriminatory policy.

I have long said that gender markers should not be necessary on IDs, and there are human rights principles that agree. We will keep working with the government to evaluate where they can remove gender markers, but the first steps are to ensure everyone has access to an accurate ID and remove unnecessary barriers such as medical certification requirements and other expenses. The Biden administration must issue an executive order directing all federal agencies to add a nonbinary and gender-neutral X designation to all federal IDs and records, and to remove documentation requirements for updating gender markers. We must make sure the administration follows through on ensuring our right to an accurate ID that represents who we are.

In the meantime, I’m not waiting around.

Just over four years ago, Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission eliminated net neutrality rules that ensured a free and open internet. Without these critical protections, internet service providers, or ISPs, were no longer required to provide equal access to all lawful content on the internet. That means ISPs were free to speed up customer access to information they like — either because they agreed with the content politically, the opinion advanced their corporate interests, or a business partner was paying them to give its content preferential treatment. At the same time, ISPs were likewise free to deliberately slow down customer access to content they didn’t like, or to block it entirely. 

Through almost every political lens, getting rid of net neutrality was viewed as a terrible move. It turns out, Americans love a free and open internet. They want to have access to receive and communicate information free of corporate censorship. Even in Trump’s divided states of America, people from every background and political philosophy were united in their desire to bring net neutrality back. According to a 2018 University of Maryland poll, 82 percent of Republicans, 90 percent of Democrats, and 85 percent of independents favor restoring net neutrality. 

Proponents of net neutrality put up a fight. In 2018, the Republican-controlled Senate voted 52-47, via the Congressional Review Act, to reject the FCC’s elimination of net neutrality protections (the House never got the chance to vote on the CRA). Throughout the nation, governors and state legislatures adopted laws and executive orders seeking to preserve net neutrality in their states. And the ACLU may have permanently harmed several of its staff members by filming them eating dangerously hot chicken wings while pleading with the federal government to save net neutrality.

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With this overwhelming, pro-net neutrality consensus, who exactly were net neutrality’s opponents? The answer was the ISPs, because eliminating net neutrality cleared the way for them to make a lot more money. Unsurprisingly, the FCC’s successful effort to kill net neutrality was led by its chairperson, Ajit Pai, a former Verizon lawyer. Pai was all too pleased to do the bidding of his former (and perhaps future) employers, and Trump was happy to go along because, well, Trump loves giving wealthy companies more money, even when doing so comes at the expense of regular Americans.

Net neutrality advocates always knew that despite strong state-level actions, the only route to fully restoring net neutrality would be through a new president and FCC. Well guess what? As of Jan. 20, we have a new president who cares about the liberty and freedoms of the American people more than corporate profits, and a new vacancy on the FCC after Ajit Pai resigned on Inauguration Day that, when filled, should provide a 3-2 commissioners majority in favor of net neutrality. 

Rarely are such important victories so ripe for the picking. We can get there, but victory is not yet 100 percent assured. We must remind President Biden that the time to fully restore net neutrality is now, and that he should reject any legislative or administrative compromises that would result in a “net neutrality lite.”

People’s access to a free and open internet should never be compromised. Please help us finish this fight by taking to social media and urging the president (@POTUS) and the acting FCC chair (@JRosenworcel) to restore #NetNeutrality within the Biden administration’s first 100 days. The ACLU will do everything we can as well — except for making another hot sauce video; I still can’t feel my tongue after the last one.