I've really been annoyed about this whole driver's license thing, and so I decided to call a lawyer friend who handles trans-relevant legal issues and see if she had any advice for me as to how to deal with it. Her response wasn't the one I expected. She believes that the people at the PennDOT agency I've been going to have been intentionally discriminating against me because I'm trans and suggested I try a different agency. That's what I did today, but by the time I spoke to her it was too late in the day to get it done yesterday, plus I needed to deposit my rent check.
So, for those reasons and my frazzled nerves, I decided to take the day off...well, sort of.
First, I went to the bank and deposited my rent check. Then I went to the local post office and applied for passport renewal. After that, I went home and had lunch. A while later, I decided that since I had basically nothing to do for the rest of the day, I'd do something I'd wanted to do for a while: upgrade my phone.
I've had an LG Optimus L90 for a long time now, and I haven't been happy with it for a while. It only has 8 gig of memory and so I was constantly having to delete stuff if I wanted to put new apps on there. So I went to the local T-Mobile store and got myself a Samsung Galaxy S7 with 32 GB memory. I love the thing. I also got myself a charger case and they threw in a set of Beats headphones.
All in all, I did about a mile or so of walking to and from the store, plus about 3/4 of a mile to and from the bank and the post office earlier in the day. I always do better when I have a goal in mind rather than just walking for the sake of just getting some exercise.
So, for those reasons and my frazzled nerves, I decided to take the day off...well, sort of.
First, I went to the bank and deposited my rent check. Then I went to the local post office and applied for passport renewal. After that, I went home and had lunch. A while later, I decided that since I had basically nothing to do for the rest of the day, I'd do something I'd wanted to do for a while: upgrade my phone.
I've had an LG Optimus L90 for a long time now, and I haven't been happy with it for a while. It only has 8 gig of memory and so I was constantly having to delete stuff if I wanted to put new apps on there. So I went to the local T-Mobile store and got myself a Samsung Galaxy S7 with 32 GB memory. I love the thing. I also got myself a charger case and they threw in a set of Beats headphones.
All in all, I did about a mile or so of walking to and from the store, plus about 3/4 of a mile to and from the bank and the post office earlier in the day. I always do better when I have a goal in mind rather than just walking for the sake of just getting some exercise.
*****
Today I woke up early and drove out to the PennDOT agency on the other side of town. It was like night and day. Seriously.
After a 20 minute ride, I walk in and get a number which is called before I even have time to sit down. I present all my ID, the same ID I presented at the other office, and several minutes later, I walk out of the agency with this:
Amazing. I'll get my official permanent license in the mail sometime in the next couple of weeks.
So the next step is to get my car registered and insured in PA. I'll start on that process next week.
The difference between the way they handled my license at these different offices is truly stunning. I'm inclined to believe that my lawyer friend was right and the real issue here wasn't my ID but rather the anti-trans bigotry of those who work at the downtown office. Either that, or they're just stupid and didn't know how to handle a license for a trans person, which I find a bit difficult to believe.
So, new phone, new license, warm and sunny spring weather in Philly. Maybe things are looking up.
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