Do You Remember Catch 22?

 In the Joseph Heller's 1961 novel Catch 22 do you remember it?

The Rule: A pilot can be grounded if they are insane.

The Catch: If a pilot asks to be relieved, it proves they are sane (concerned for their safety) and thus ineligible for a mental health exemption.

The Result: If he flies, he’s crazy. If he asks to stop, he’s sane, so he must keep flying. 

Well, Trump and his allies are trying to create a real-life Catch-22—and it’s buried in the voting bill known as the SAVE Act. A bill that could effectively strip many of us of our right to vote.

I’ve written before about how a similar law in Kansas disenfranchised over 30,000 women—many of whom, after getting married, never updated their birth certificates. The AARP said that the SAVE Act would:

Key Takeaways:

• A proposed federal bill would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote and photo ID at the polls, making voting tougher for many older adults
• Millions lack easy access to passports or birth certificates, and older adults face added complications from name changes, moves or expired IDs
• The changes could complicate mail-in voting and create new avenues for identity theft

And yet, despite all of this, Republicans continue pushing it forward and with Trump leading the charge.

And for transgender people, it creates a nightmare scenario.

Under the SAVE Act, a voter must provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship and is limited to a passport, birth certificate, or naturalization papers.

So imagine this: A trans person is born in Ohio, now lives in Connecticut, and has updated their driver’s license to reflect their correct gender. But their birth certificate still shows their old gender marker.

When they go to register or vote, what happens? Their documents don’t match.

And without a passport or a birth certifiate, they’re srewed!

People like me face another issue: an expired passport that reflects our true gender can’t be used—because it must be valid. As if your citizenship somehow expires along with your passport.

Why?

The federal government argues that your appearance or location may change over time. But that doesn’t hold up... passports do not contain your residence? And another thing, your looks can change over the 15 year life of your passport but on day one after the 15 years your photo us not valid? That doesn't make sense.

This whole  SAVE America Act is nothing more that an attempt to disenfranchise voters! And the trans community is swept up in a new Catch 22!