(Reuters) - Oregon on Thursday became the first U.S. state to allow residents to identify as neither male nor female on state driver’s licenses, a decision that transgender advocates called a victory for civil rights. 
 
 FILE PHOTO: An employee of the advocacy group Basic Rights Oregon hands out stickers during an Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle department public hearing on the rights of transgender people as the state considers adding a third gender choice to driver's licenses and identification cards, in Portland, Oregon, May 10, 2017. REUTERS/Terray Sylvester/File Photo 
 
 Under a policy unanimously adopted by the Oregon Transportation Commission, residents can choose to have an “X,” for non-specified, displayed on their driver’s license or identification cards rather than an “M” for male or “F” for female. 
 
 The policy change was cheered by supporters as a major step in expanding legal recognition and civil rights for people who do not identify as male or female. This includes individuals with both male and female anatomies, people without a gender identity and those who identify as a different gender than listed on their birth certificate. 
 
 The state’s Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division expects to start offering the option in July. 
 
 “I very much plan to head to the nearest DMV and ask for that ID to be corrected on July 3rd,” said Jamie Shupe, an Army veteran who successfully petitioned for the non-binary gender option. “And then I’ll no doubt stand out front of the building, or sit in the car, and cry.” 
 
 Transgender rights have become a flashpoint across the United States after some states, including North Carolina, have tried to restrict transgender people’s use of public bathrooms. 
 
 At the end of May, a federal court ruled that a transgender boy must be allowed to use the boys’ bathrooms at his high school in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 
 
 The decision in Oregon comes a year after a Portland circuit court judge granted a request by Shupe to change gender from female to a third, nongender option. 
 
 That 2016 ruling prompted state officials to examine how to allow a third option in the state’s computer systems and how such a change would interact with the state’s gender laws. 
 
 During public hearings on the change, most comments were in favor, according to a summary by DMV officials. 
 
 A handful of people questioned the need for the third option and expressed concern that the change would complicate police officers’ efforts to identify people. 
 
 Having the third option on legal documentation can help reduce discrimination and raise awareness of “the spectrum of gender identity,” said Diane Goodwin, spokeswoman for Basic Rights Oregon, an advocacy group that campaigned for the “X” option. 
 
 Nearly one-third of transgender people who showed an ID with a name or gender that did not match their perceived gender reported harassment, discrimination or assault, according to a 2015 survey of more than 20,000 people in all states. 
 
 A DMV spokesman added the agency has no estimate of how many people might apply for the new IDs. 

 Oregon became the first U.S. state to allow residents to identify as "nonbinary," neither male nor female, on their driver licenses and identification cards Thursday in a decision by The Oregon Transportation Commission. 
 
 
 
 Beginning July 1, Oregonians will be able to choose "X" for sex Instead of "F" or "M" on their licenses and identification cards. Applicants will have to pay replacement or renewal fees. 
 
 
 
 Transgender and intersex Oregonians say the change validates their identities and makes them safer as they hand over their licenses at restaurants, health clinics and airports. Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles officials say they received little opposition to the change, which they first announced plans to carry out last summer. Of 83 comments, both written and oral, only 12 people opposed the change. 
 
 The testimony offered "important insight into some DMV customers that according to one of the witnesses are as common as redheads," said Tom McClellan, the division administrator for the department. "People didn't share their testimony. They shared their stories. They told us of their struggles so we would understand the need." 
 
 
 
 The rule change follows a historic precedent set last year when a Multnomah County Circuit Court judge allowed Portland Army veteran Jamie Shupe to legally identify as neither male nor female. Legal experts believed the ruling was a first in the United States. 
 
 
 
 An estimated 20,000 Oregonians identify as transgender, according to The Williams Institute at the University of California-Los Angeles. A 2015 nationwide survey of 28,000 transgender people found that more than a third identified as neither male nor female. 
 
 
 
 Since Shupe's win, judges in Polk and Benton counties have allowed transgender Oregonians to change their legal gender to neither male nor female. 
 
 
 
 California legislators also are considering a bill that would allow drivers to register as "nonbinary." In Oregon, the change does not require a legislative vote because state law does not stipulate that a driver has to choose male or female. 
 
 Commissioner Sean O'Hollaren said he was glad the state had embraced the change. 
 
 "I hope those who will use X as an identifier will feel an element of comfort moving forward," O'Hollaren said. "It's something we're not only doing because legally our hand is forced. It's something we should do because it's the right thing to do." 
 
 -- Casey Parks 
 
 cparks@oregonian.com; @caseyparks
– Jamie Shupe expects to stand out front of an Oregon DMV early next month and cry. And not for the reasons you'd expect. Shupe intends to be one of the first to take advantage of what is a first for America: a change to Oregon's driver's licenses that make "X," or non-specified, available as a gender option alongside "M" for male and "F" for female. The new policy represents a unanimous move Thursday by the Oregon Transportation Commission, reports Reuters, and goes into effect July 1. The Oregonian reports those who want the new license will have to pay a replacement or renewal fee. The news comes almost a year since an Oregon court ruled that Shupe is officially and legally neither male nor female but non-binary; the Army veteran was assigned the male gender at birth but never felt that fit. Neither did female, though Shupe began transitioning in 2013. Reuters reports that ruling triggered a review of how to facilitate the addition of a third option in the state's computer systems.