Same-Sex Couple Sues Florida For Claiming Their Marriage-And Drivers Licenses-Are Invalid

A same-sex couple, after legally changing their name when they married, have had their driver’s licenses revoked by the Florida DHSMV.

Daniel Wall-DeSousa and Scott Wall-DeSousa have been together since 2005. They live in Florida but were legally married in New York City last year, and they own a house together. They are a married couple just like millions of others in the United States. Except to the State of Florida and the Florida Dept. of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV).

After they married, as The New Civil Rights Movement reported last month, the couple did what many couples do: they changed their names and with that change, they had to change all their legal documents, from social security cards to driver’s licenses.

The federal document changes were of course not a problem, but the driver’s licenses posed a problem for the State of Florida, which made them jump through a few hoops before ultimately granting them licenses with their new married name, Wall-DeSousa.

But after the couple appeared in a local Florida news report and mentioned they had been granted driver’s licenses with their new, legal name, the Florida DMV sent the couple a letter – addressed to them with their new last name – threatening to cancel their licenses, and demanding they legally change their names back to their unmarried names.

The couple refused, and the Florida DHSMV canceled their licenses.

Now, they are suing the State of Florida in federal court, claiming the DHSMV is violating their rights to free speech, and due process and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. 

The lawsuit states they believe they will win their case because Florida is infringing on their fundamental right to marry and their fundamental right to travel. It also accuses the State of engaging in a retaliatory act.

If they win, Florida would have to recognize out-of-state marriages.

While they are awaiting justice, Daniel Wall-DeSousa opted to follow the State of Florida’s demand. He cut up his license and mailed to back to the DHSMV. “My driving privileges have been cancelled indefinitely,” he said. “I made a decision I would rather give up my driving privileges than my identity.”

His husband, Scott Wall-DeSousa, applied for a license with his unmarried name, and received it so he can drive, but finds the state’s actions “offensive.”

“I find it slightly offensive,” Scott Wall-DeSousa told the Orlando Sentinel, “that this state will not honor a little document from another state. If this were a lien or a judgment or any other legal document, not only would this state accept it, but it would also enforce it.” 

 

Image via Wall-DeSousa family, used with their permission