A transgender woman in Michigan told WXYZ-TV that her auto insurance company spiked her rates after she notified them of her gender and name changes.

At first, Faith Francis believed she was being discriminated against for transitioning from a man to woman so she contacted the state attorney general's office to file a complaint. Faith requested that the station use only her first and middle name in an effort to protect her privacy.

Later, she received a letter from the Michigan Insurance Commissioner’s office that explained that being a woman, along with other factors such as marital status, are among the multiple factors used to determine insurance rates.

“You [insurance company] are punishing me for following my ... for being my real self and you are punishing the rest of the women in this state for nothing more than we don’t have a penis,” Faith told the news outlet.

The woman, who worked for more than 20 years as a truck driver, said that Progressive Marathon Insurance Company raised her annual rates by $970.08.

“Judge me by my driving record, not by what is between my legs,” Faith added.

What did the insurance company say?

The Insurance Commissioner's letter included correspondence from Faith's insurer which read in part:

On March 7, 2018, we received a call from Ms. (redacted), asking that we change her name from (redacted) to (redacted), and change her gender from male to female. (redacted) is right. This change did increase the rate by $80.84. We utilize gender and marital status as factors that, in conjunction with age, determine an individual driver class rating factor, which is used as part of a customer’s rate calculation in our Chapter 24 group rated companies.

What else?

Faith told WXYZ that the additional $80 per month has caused her hardship.

“If they would put my insurance rates back where it should be, I wouldn’t have to go to the food bank,” she said.

(H/T: WXYZ-TV)