A South Carolina transgender teen beamed in makeup and stood tall in heels as she retook her driver’s license photo after winning a settlement in a hard-fought lawsuit against the state’s DMV.
“I’m feeling very happy that I’m able to come back and demonstrate my right to appear as I am,” Chase Culpepper, 17, exclusively told local news station WYFF 4.
The Anderson teenager, who was born male but identifies as a female, filed a federal lawsuit last September claiming the South Carolina DMV violated her rights when officials didn’t allow her from wearing makeup in her first license picture in March 2014.
She won a settlement in April, and the suit changed the state agency’s policy that once barred people from altering their appearance for the identification card.
The case also resulted in mandatory training for DMV employees on how to handle transgender customers.
Culpepper, wearing a black dress, stood proudly last Friday and smiled for her new photo as her mother looked on.
“It’s me,” she said, gripping her new license. “This is what I deserve in the first place. To be able to have this in my hands now, it just feels really good.”
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