GRAND RAPIDS -- Jena Lewis believes getting a Michigan driver's license that identifies who you are should not be a political issue.

Lewis, who went through a sex change more than five years ago, carries a driver's license that identifies her as a female.

But Gary Glenn, leader of a Midland-based anti-gay group, believes Lewis' license should still bear an "M" instead of an "F."

The issue could become a political hot potato in this year's campaign to replace Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, who is leaving office because of term limits.

The Secretary of State sets the policy that decides when and if a person can change the gender designation on his or her driver's license.

The issue surfaced recently when Paul Scott, a Republican candidate for Secretary of State, announced that one of his top priorities will be to "ensure transgender individuals will not be allowed to change the sex on their driver's license in any circumstance."

That drew objections from the transgender community, which asked why Scott would raise an issue that has been settled since 2005.

"Harm will only come from changing this rule, and this rule is causing no harm at this time," said Lewis.

Lewis argued people whose driver's licenses do not reflect their gender are in danger of being mistreated. In some cases, their treatment needs have been ignored by paramedics or they have been abused by police officers, she said.

Scott, a state representative from Grand Blanc, said he did not intend to provoke controversy. His pledge to deny gender change requests "may have been inartful," he said.

"I just wanted people to know what my position on the issue is," he said. "If I am elected, I will follow Michigan and federal law."

Other candidates, who will be nominated at their party's state conventions, are less reluctant to embrace the issue.

Democrat Jocelyn Benson said she supports the current system of responding to requests that are properly documented.

"I'm not going to stick my nose into anyone's private decision," she said. "Whern there is proper documentation to reflect a fact, then our records should support what the documentation says."

Likewise, Republican Anne Norlander, of Battle Creek, said she would assign gender on the basis of whatever court orders and medical records the applicant presents.

Requests for gender changes are rare, said Kelly Chesney, Land's spokeswoman. She said the department does not keep records of how many requests are processed.

Nonetheless, Glenn said the issue is important to his Midland-based American Family Association. He said his group will ask Secretary of State candidates how they will handle requests to change gender designation on a driver's license.

"I think there are all kinds of implications to the privacy rights of women and children if biological males are given access to health clubs, showers, locker rooms and changing areas," Glenn said.

But the "core issue," said Glenn, "is whether the citizens of the state of Michigan can trust their government to tell the truth and not engage in delusion or mental or emotional disorders but to tell the simple truth.

"We may sympathize with a tiny minority's emotional and mental struggles, but that does not absolve the government of its responsibility to tell the truth and not falsify government records."

Lewis said the "man in the women's bathroom" argument is a myth. Most transgender people do not want to call attention to themselves, especially in public restrooms, she said.

"Historically, trans-people tend to have one of the lowest rates of being sexual predators," she said.

"If a trans-man or a trans-woman were sitting next to you on the bus, chances are you would not realize it unless he or she announced it to you. Yet every so often we have hysteria raised about trans-people."

The issue of gender identification on driver's licenses last surfaced in 2005, when the American Civil Liberties Union and Transgender Michigan successfully lobbied Land's office to honor requests to change the gender markers on licenses and state ID cards.

That policy lasted only 22 days before Land changed the rules so that gender identification could be changed only for people who present a court order or a doctor's statement that shows a gender transition was complete.

THE CURRENT POLICY "To change a gender on a driver license, the individual must provide an original doctor's statement or court order. The doctor's statement or court order must certify that the applicant has completed the medical treatments necessary to change their gender."

Lewis said she had the name and gender changed on her driver's license during that 22-day period. She presented a letter from a therapist indicating she was in the process of a gender reassignment. She said she now has the same designation on her birth certificate and passport.

Lewis said it's unlikely a future Secretary of State would reverse the change made on her license.

"My birth certificate has been changed," she said. "He would have no way of getting me to have it changed back."

Most people who go through a gender change don't call attention to the fact, she said.

"Stealth is the goal," said Lewis, who is pursuing a social work degree at Grand Valley State University

"Trans-people go to church, have families and raise children," said Lewis, noting she is a council member at her mainline Protestant congregation.

"Trans-people are not out to do anything but live, and more often than not, live quietly and under the radar of the rest of the world."

E-mail Jim Harger: jharger@grpress.com

