COLUMBIA, S.C. — A transgender South Carolina teenager who was told to remove her makeup for a driver’s license photo has settled her lawsuit over the incident and a state agency has agreed to handle such cases differently, according to court documents.
Under the terms of the settlement, the state Department of Motor Vehicles is changing its policy on how male and female license applicants may dress or wear makeup in their official photos. Agency employees will also get training on how to handle transgender customers and people who don’t identify with either gender.
Chase Culpepper, 17, who was born male, regularly wears makeup and androgynous or women’s clothing. She was told by officials at a DMV office in Anderson to remove her makeup because of a policy that bans license photos when someone is purposefully altering his or her appearance.
After several attempts, Culpepper says the makeup was removed to the satisfaction of DMV employees, and a license photo was ultimately taken, a process the teen called degrading and humiliating.