I'm in your water.

Since you need identification to do nearly anything these days, it’s clear that states should provide it cheaply and expediently and it should be regarded as a basic human right. However, the state of Oregon refuses to provide me with an ID card.

Last year, the state instituted a policy that requires applicants to have a birth certificate in order to get ID. My parents lost my birth certificate many years before I reached adulthood. I was born in the Panama Canal Zone, to American parents, which means I need to get my birth certificate from the State Department. Guess what’s in the State Department’s list of requirements to get a birth certificate? Yes! A photo ID!

It gets better. They offer a “temporary ID” to people who don’t have the documentation “until they can get the documentation”. I went to get one a couple months ago. It’s a piece of yellow paper with no photo. Some people take it, most people won’t. A few have laughed at it.

The website says, “If you are having problems meeting requirements, you can contact a DMV Customer Assistant Specialist by calling your local DMV office”, which implies that they’ll make exceptions or help. But all the bureaucratic demon from hell customer assistant specialist said when I called pretty much amounted to “you’re fucked and I don’t care.”

I can’t go see movies at the Laurelhurst Theater. I can’t drink at most bars. I can’t cash my payroll checks. I can’t get an additional job, etc.

Thank you Oregon, for marginalizing me.

Obviously, I have to fight this. Since the State Department has had their policy for several years, I’ll take it up with the Oregon DMV. I don’t think the requirements should be so stringent for something so fundamentally important to someone’s life. I guess I’ll have to start by phoneclimbing at the DMV until I get ahold of someone with discretionary power.

Wish me luck. I’ll keep updates here.

*** UPDATE 1: Just got off the phone with a very nice lady from the customer service arm of the DMV in Salem. She was very friendly, but the sum of the conversation was, “Call the State Dept.”

I’ve also learned that this isn’t Oregon’s fault. The new requirements are compliance with federal regulation, so whose door do I lay this mess at now? The goddamn Republicans.

*** UPDATE 2: The Federal Guidelines were Implemented by the Department of Homeland Security in accordance with a law known as the “Real ID” act. It was passed by the Republican controlled congress and signed into law by President Bush in 2005. I somehow missed this story when it was going on over a year ago but apparently civil liberties groups, including the EFF and the ACLU, opposed it.

My House Representative, Earl Blumenauer voted against this bill. I’m glad I voted for him in the last election. Here’s his voting record.

*** UPDATE 3: Apparently the current Dept. of Homeland Security head is looking to repeal the REAL ID act and is working with state governors to change the requirements. Go Obama Administration! Yay! CNN story from 4/22

Related Links:

NPR story about Real ID

ACLU Scorecard of the Law (They say it’s total FAIL)

EFF call to repeal the Real ID Act and elected official contact form.