Think Before Acting

[RANT]

I don’t know how many times in the last couple of days have I seen posts on Facebook about the State Department changing the rules on passports.

I don’t know how many times I heard that we need to protest a business because they dissed a trans sister or brother.

It turned out with the passports that there were other issues involved with the passports being revoked and with businesses it turns out to be an isolated incident.

One of the things that I leaned in grad school is to know the issue and the facts before you take action.

If you read the original article in Them about the passport she wrote…

Today I was denied a renewal of my US Passport and told I would need to get a judge to unseal child welfare records from Foster care in order to "prove" my US Citizenship. Despite having had all "Female" ID since 1999, they are now demanding "Proof of Transition" for the 1st time.

Notice she said “…in order to "prove" my US Citizenship” not that she is female and the other passport that was revoked was because…

Rose had successfully changed the gender marker on her passport in 2017 using a letter signed by the nurse practitioner at her clinic. The clinic, she says, told her they’ve never encountered a person being told that that letter is invalid or that they need to have it written by an M.D. instead.

“It seems pretty clear that even if the policy hasn’t changed, something has changed in terms of guidance on how to enforce this — because it’s being enforced differently now,” says Rose.

Well here is the sample form on NCTE website…

PHYSICIAN LETTERHEAD

I, Physician’s Full Name, Physician’s medical license or certificate number, Issuing U.S. State/Foreign Country of medical license/certificate, am the physician of Name of Patient, Date of Birth of Patient, with whom I have a doctor/patient relationship and whom I have treated (or with whom I have a doctor/patient relationship and whose medical history I have reviewed and evaluated).

Name of Patient has had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition to the new gender (specify new gender male or female).

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that the foregoing is true and correct.

Signature of Physician
Typed Name
Address
Phone
Date

Notice it says “Physician’s Full Name” not APRN or PA. The APRN who provides healthcare to me signed the form and was co-signed by the doctor.

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There were reports last fall of a restaurant here in Connecticut disrespecting a trans woman who wanted to protest the restaurant but digging deeper I found out that many trans people had no problems at the restaurant. What would you do? Join the protest?

Another incident in another state happened at a big box store where another trans woman was harassed by a store employee and she wanted an action in front of the store. The store apologized and said the employee violated the store policy; in addition the store has a good record of hiring trans people.

I am not saying we shouldn’t have protests or actions; I am just saying we should investigate first. Know your target and know your goals what do you hope to accomplish?

[/RANT]