A Brief List of What Russia Considers Relevant To Whether I Can Hold A Driver’s License

1. My generalized anxiety disorder

2. My borderline personality disorder

3. My support for GLBT+ individuals

4. The fact that my car is very dirty

5. I do not have my passport in my car

6. My major depressive disorder

7. The fact that I do not have a neon vest in my car

A list of things which likely would not affect my ability to drive in Russia:

1. Being legally blind in one eye (this did not stop me from getting a driver’s license in the U.S.)

While I understand the focus on trans and other gender nonconforming individuals in this particular piece of legislation, it does seem pertinent to notice that it’s also encroaching on the rights of mentally ill people. Too often it’s deemed ok to keep mentally ill people from certain things because of stigmas that they’re dangerous or out of control. But it also points towards how the stigma of mental illness is used as a way to discredit other minority groups by turning them into mentally ill people. There’s no way this shitty discrimination against trans people could happen if it weren’t resting on the shoulders of discrimination against the mentally ill.

Cross posted from We Got So Far To Go