BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida couple who used their New York marriage license to change their names on their Florida drivers’ licenses have been notified by the state Department of Motor Vehicles warning them that they are both in danger of losing their licenses.
WFTV reports that the warning came following an Oct. 30 broadcast in which WFTV reported that Daniel and Scott Wall-Desousa were one of Florida’s first same-sex couples to successfully change their name using an out-of-state same-sex marriage license.
The letter “informs me and notifies me that my driving privileges will be canceled indefinitely as of Nov. 22,” said Daniel Wall-Desousa, because the couple’s out-of-state marriage license is not recognized in Florida.
When WFTV first reported on the name change, Scott Wall-Desousa said the clerk was told to not ask questions if the license was issued to a same-sex couple and simply grant the name change.
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“It is a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, and I guess we have been told, ‘Here is the repercussion,'” said Scott Wall-Desousa.
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If they comply with the request, the couple notes, then their licenses will have a different name than all of the rest of their documents.
“Everything has been changed to my benefits, to my Florida pension,” he explained, adding that even the men’s voter IDs and work badges display their married name. “How does one undo all that?”
The couple say they plan to file a lawsuit against the state.
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