Leap-Year Babies Fight a Lonely, Quadrennial Fight for Recognition
What Dean Walsmith really wants for his birthday is to have a computer notice him.
Mr. Walsmith, who turns 52 and who celebrates his 13th leap-year birthday on Saturday, launched a Change.org petition two years ago to make all computer systems accept February 29 as an option for the end of February, instead of a common setup now of the 28th. “It’s just annoying,” said Mr. Walsmith, of Post Falls, Idaho, whose petition has garnered more than 1,200 signatures. “Hey, it’s not our fault we were born on the 29th, dang it.” Leap-year babies are fighting back. They’re tired of being told the date on their IDs is fake. They’re tired of having trouble at the DMV, getting library cards, or missing out on birthday specials that ignore their day.
Raenell Dawn founded a group now called the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies, for people born on Feb. 29 to share the joys—and indignities—leapers such as herself must endure. Its membership has ballooned to 11,000 from just 21 when she started it in 1988. Among other things, it maintains a list of issues the leapers face. Ms. Dawn, of Keizer, Ore., celebrates her 15th birthday Saturday after spending a total of 60 years on the planet. She strives to make life easier on leapers, including getting more states to change their DMV computers to recognize Feb. 29 and pushing restaurants to honor free birthday offers every year rather than every four.
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Leapers fight back in the ways of any interest group: They write letters, they send emails. And they have seen some change. Some states have rejiggered their computer systems to recognize Feb. 29 on driver’s licenses, said Ms. Dawn.
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One life milestone—being able to legally buy one’s first drink at 21—often becomes a sobering experience. Annabella Gualdoni is still annoyed, 30 years later, about when she went to a bar near her college in Los Angeles to celebrate her 21st birthday and showed her ID for an Alabama Slammer. “The waiter looked it up and down, scrunched his face, and said, ‘Uh, are you celebrating your 21st birthday tonight?’ ” said Ms. Gualdoni of Newton, Mass. “I said that I was and he said, ‘I’d better check with my boss about this.’ After much deliberation on their part, and a little sweat on mine, they let me have my drinks!”
Rita Sigler recalls that when she moved to Connecticut years ago, DMV officials ended up having to shut down their entire computer system for a half-hour to get it to accept her Feb. 29 birth date. “Needless to say, everyone else waiting was thoroughly annoyed,” said Ms. Sigler, an insurance worker from South Windsor, Conn., who turns 48 and 12 on Saturday. “I tried to act nonchalant so they wouldn’t know I was the troublemaker.” A spokesman for the state’s DMV said Feb. 29 is now recognized.
More..
https://www.wsj.com/articles/leap-year-babies-fight-a-lonely-quadrennial-fight-for-recognition-11582910410 (subscription)
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Happy birthday DU leapers..
= new reply since forum marked as read
legally a year older on the day before the birthday.
I don’t remember why though. 