Well here's an infuriating story from the Texas Observer sure to add a little piss to your cornflakes this morning.
Connie Wilson, who just moved from California to the Houston area with her wife Aimee and their three children, received a hell of a welcome from the Department of Public Safety (DPS). The couple has been together nine years, and they finally tied the knot last year in California, after which Connie took Aimee's last name. Connie was able to get all of her records updated with her new name, from her California driver license to her Social Security card to all of her financial and medical records. And then, upon moving to the Houston area, she visited the DPS office in Katy to obtain a Texas driver license. No big deal--when I moved to Texas, aside from waiting in a horrendous line at DPS, getting my driver license was painless. But I also didn't have my name changed to that of my same-sex spouse. Wilson's experience with DPS in Texas, where gays are barred from marriage by both statute and constitutional amendment (just to be safe, you know), has been quite different:
With her California driver’s license nearing expiration, Wilson took her documents to a DPS office in Katy last week to obtain a Texas driver’s license. When a DPS employee noticed that Wilson’s name didn’t match her birth certificate, she produced the couple’s California marriage license identifying her spouse as Aimee Wilson.
“Her only words to me were, ‘Is this same-[sex]?'” Connie Wilson recalled. “I remember hesitating for probably 10 seconds. I didn’t know how to answer. I didn’t want to lie, but I knew I was in trouble because I wasn’t going to be able to get a license.”
[...]
“She immediately told me, ‘You can’t use this to get your license. This doesn’t validate your last name. Do you have anything else?’” Wilson said. “She told me I would never get a license with my current name, that the name doesn’t belong to me.”
Emphasis fucking mine. The name
doesn't belong to her.
The employee, who turned out to be a DPS supervisor, recommended that Wilson use her maiden name, which she lacks the proper documentation to do. Then--get this--the supervisor told her that she could obtain an order from a state court to change her name, a move that would cost at least $500. Says Wilson:
My name is already legally Wilson. I don’t know if a judge will even grant me a name change from Wilson to Wilson.
Fucking madness. More:
In response to inquiries from the Observer, DPS confirmed that people moving to Texas from other states can’t obtain driver’s licenses listing their married names using same-sex marriage licenses.
“To receive a Texas Driver License or Identification Card reflecting a name change from a same-sex marriage, a court order is required,” a DPS spokesman said in a statement.
Wilson claims that this batshit policy and the impending expiration of her California driver license could possibly threaten the family's ability both to close on a house and to obtain disability benefits for one of their children, who has autism and Down syndrome.
More from Wilson:
I’ve been deprived the freedom to drive a vehicle once my current California driver’s license expires. I’m further being deprived the freedom to use air travel, make purchases that require a valid photo identification, seek medical attention for myself or my children, as well as other situations that would require proving who I am legally as an individual.
Like I said, a hell of a welcome.
Wilson has been in contact both with Equality Texas and the office of State Senator Sylvia Garcia. Garcia's office is awaiting a written explanation of the DPS decision, while Equality Texas field organizer Daniel Williams has this to say:
This is a disappointing incident and certainly not reflective of Texas hospitality or values. Equality Texas is working to resolve this matter quickly.
Disappointing indeed. Another clear reason this clusterfuck of a patchwork quilt we have going on in this country regarding marriage equality cannot work.