So when was the last time you were asked for your papers? Probably when you started a new job or applied for a passport or a new driver license, but other than those you probably haven’t dragged out your birth certificate. And if you are trans you probably dread showing your papers because they don’t match your identity even though they are being used for identification.
Making it easier for transgender people to get new birth certificatesI believe that Oregon and Illinois also allow birth certificates to be changed without surgery. In Oregon it was through legislative action and in Illinois it was by a legal agreement. Hopefully, other states will follow their lead. After all when was your gender on a birth certificate checked by looking between your legs? Most likely the only time it is brought in to question is when your gender identity doesn’t match your gender expression.
The District of Columbia Council passes the country's most liberal policy for updating birth certificates, one that transgender activists hope will become a nationwide model.
LA Times
By Alexei Koseff
August 5, 2013
WASHINGTON — Kaprice Williams has been waiting four years for a new birth certificate.
Williams, 50, transitioned from male to female when she was 15, but some essential legal documents still do not recognize her as a woman.
That had not been an issue until a job interview went sour when her paperwork revealed she is transgender. Efforts to change her birth certificate had stalled because Williams, a native of Washington, has not had sexual reassignment surgery and cannot afford thousands of dollars in lawyer's fees.
Those obstacles are about to become history: Last month, the District of Columbia Council passed the country's most liberal policy for updating birth certificates, one that transgender activists hope will become a nationwide model. The mayor is expected to sign it Tuesday.
This post makes no sense. I am 67 years old and I have only been asked for my B/C when I applied for Social Security Retirement Benefits.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds lie you are asking for B/C's to be changed on demand.
"After all when was your gender on a birth certificate checked by looking between your legs?"
Ah gee...How about the day we were born? If someone is male bodied, where is the sense in having a legal document attest to the fact that they were born female despite having a male body? That is a contradiction of fact. It is a lie, a fraud.
Anon,
ReplyDeleteAt 67, you are of retirement age and not likely to actively be seeking employment. When filling out the documents in the process of being hired, or tentatively being hired, one of these documents is the INS form, the I-9. This form, in proving that someone is either a US citizen or otherwise legally authorized to work in this country, asks for two pieces of legal documentation. For most employees, the only pieces of ID they can show to satisfy the I-9 requirements are a drivers license and a birth certificate.
You are very right that the doctor who slaps your bloody bottom can only see what's between your legs, and mark the document accordingly. The doctor can't see the identity part that comes out later in life without doing an MRI. That's an expensive procedure to perform on the chance of catching, and being able to treat early, a condition as rare as transsexuality.
The ideal situation would be for an employer be able to have Jane apply for a job even though her birth certificate says Dick, and nobody blinks an eye. There are however many many situations where the last thing a very qualifies employee hears from a prospective employer is, "We'll call you." In a recent survey, "...individuals reported double the rate of unemployment; workplace harassment (50%); being fired, not hired, or denied a promotion (47%)"
So as a consequence of bigotry on some people, we have to take other measures to make sure our talents are properly used. So is changing legal documents to properly reflect a gender expression we will carry the rest of our lives fraud? Absolutely not. However, what IS fraud are things like claiming training one doesn't possess, claiming going to a school they never went to, claiming they held a job that never existed. All these things are legitimate, fireable offenses. Having a rare and treatable medical condition is not. Some people however are too stubborn to know the difference.
Sarah