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[kdmorris]

31. This is more about women changing their name when married (and immigrants) than FL law

I have to also provide my birth certificate, social security card AND marriage certificate to obtain a United States passport or any other form of official Identification. I keep all that documentation in a safe place BUT I was born in Virginia, I'm Caucasian and both of my marriages occurred to American men on American soil.

My husband and I moved to Florida in 1998 and we went together to get Florida driver's licenses. He had to bring a utility bill/deed (proof of address) and his birth certificate/Social Security Card. In 1998, I had to bring the exact same thing, EXCEPT I also needed to bring my marriage certificate to show that the name on my birth certificate was really mine. Because I took back my maiden name upon my divorce from my first husband, that is all the proof I've ever needed because the marriage certificate has the name from my birth certificate on it.

I would have run into the same issue in 1998 that I run into today if I had married my husband under my first married name. No one just takes your word for it if you say that the Jane Doe on the birth certificate is the Jane Black on the marriage certificate to John Smith. You need to prove it.

We had to get our licenses renewed under the "current laws" in Florida and I had to bring exactly the same documentation that I did in 1998. Birth certificate, proof of address, social security card and marriage certificate. In both 1998 and post-2010 laws, I would have needed my first marriage license and divorce decree if I had not changed my name back. The difference is that I would have to go in person to renew my license (normally, you just renew it online) so that I could get a new picture taken.

Since women have been changing their names forever in America on marriage, this has been an extra piece of documentation we've had to bring and I find it hard to believe that a 70 year old White American woman would not have her marriage certificate to prove that her married name is really her name.

This isn't a war on women - it's a war on immigrants. Immigrants are the ones that will end up having a hard time getting all this documentation from their home countries (especially the large Haitian community down here - fires, earthquakes, riots, mudslides, hurricanes, etc have caused much of this documentation to be destroyed). This law was set up to make sure that the least number of immigrants possible can get a driver's license (since "illegal" immigrants are no longer permitted to get driver's licenses in Florida).