What Do I Do? Do I Check The Male Or The Female Box

A part of the standard of care that the medical community has imposed on the transgender community is that you must live in your true gender for at least one-year full time. This creates a document nightmare, in some states you are allowed to change your gender marker on your driver’s license with a letter from your doctor. In other states and the federal government will not allow you to change your gender marker until you had surgery.

This creates a horrendous problem in that our gender markers might not match from one agency to another. This problem has been exasperated with the new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulations for flying, they now require that you provide your birth date and gender when they book an airline ticket. In other words, my driver license says I’m female and my Social Security card and passport say that I’m male.

This is what the National Center for Transgender Equsality (NTCE) has to say about the topic…

Washington, DC, August 17, 2009-The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rolled out a new phase of their Secure Flight program over the weekend. Passengers will now be required to provide their birth date and gender when they book an airline ticket as part of a move to help distinguish passengers from those on the government's "watch list" (often called the "no-fly" list).

NCTE has issued a new FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about the Secure Flight program and its impact on transgender people. The resource includes information about how to navigate the new process, particularly if you have identification that does not match your gender presentation. NCTE firmly supports the right of transgender people to maintain our privacy and to travel freely.

NCTE has been engaged in ongoing work with TSA and administration officials about the Secure Flight program. There appears to be no chance of having the requirement of listing gender lifted; however, we will continue to work on how the policy is implemented in order to minimize the negative impacts. We are also monitoring the impact on transgender travelers. If you encounter difficulties when you travel, please contact us as 202-903-0112 and let us know. We may be able to provide you with assistance and the information can also help us as we work with TSA to help prevent future problems.

What I want to know is why do they even bother to list gender on IDs. Many countries around the world do not require gender on their documentation, why do we require it? Is it just because we have always required it?