6/29/13

Georgia Cis Woman's Birth Certificate Gender Marker Discrepancy Gets Fixed By Fox News

Filled under 'why can't we do this too?'

A presumably cisgender Georgia woman went to renew her driver licensee but due to a new law she had to return with her birth certificate. When she looked at it carefully she learned a mistake had been made when she was born, the wrong gender marker had been 'x'ed.

She left the human services office humiliated and mortified because they told her they wouldn't reissue her BC with her correct gender until she provided a physicians letter proving she was really a woman.

Sound familiar gender peeps? Well lucky for her she had Fox News champion of civil cisgender rights to ride in and correct this wrong.

Fox 5's "Kaitlyn Pratt took Grimes' concerns to Vital Records Services. Their director said what happened is not protocol, and she's looking into the incident. She also promised to make things right."

Taaaadaa cisgender privilage.



Georgia's laws are typical of our country's double standards and subjective enforcement. From Transequality.org:

In Georgia: "A person may have the gender designation on their driver’s license changed after a gender reassignment operation upon the presentation to a driver examiner of either a court order reflecting such change, or a physician's letter certifying such change. The letter or court order shall state the person's name and date of birth, and the date of gender reassignment operation, as well as other identifying information. A person applying under Section (1) shall surrender all licenses in their possession and shall be required to pay either the renewal license fee or a duplicate license fee, whichever is applicable. No rebate will be given for any licenses surrendered. In all cases the decision to change the gender designation on the license is at the discretion of the Department."

There are numerous online examples of problematic non enforcement such as the one the cisgender woman benefited from:
megafamilyproject.or "in the last few years the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicle Safety has issued a regulation that requires transpeople to show a notarized affidavit of genital surgery to have the sex marker changed on their driver’s license. This policy is enforced unevenly, however, and many times a person who presents with a certified copy of their order for name change and legal change of gender can get their sex marker change, depending on who is working the counter that particular day."

Although a little dated, the TS Road Map has some more examples.

In my state of Texas there are no laws about this. Changing ones name is easy enough but getting your gender marker changed on the all important drivers license is more about knowing which county to 'live' in and how to approach the clerk to get the right judge.

You can get the up to date information on your states policies here but keep this in mind, some judges are more liable to use good judgement than others so its critical to ask around and contact someone who has recently done a gender marker change for advice.



First of Five Charged With Murder of Trans Rapper Evon "Yung LT" Young Convicted

MILWAUKEE: Ashanti Mcalister 19, was found guilty of shooting Evon Young three times and helping to throw his body into a dumpster New Years day. Although Young's body was never found the verdict was supported by testimony from two of the accused, Devin Seaberry and Victor Stewart have turned states evidence in return for a plea deal.

AP reports that Mcalister was found guilty Thursday of first-degree intentional homicide in the death of 22-year-old Evon Young and will be sentenced August 12.

According to testimony, Mcalister delivered three shots to Young's lifeless body after he was suffocated and strangled in the basement of his own home.

The first trial of the five accused, Billy Griffin ended in a hung jury. Griffin will be retried in September.

The murder of Evon Young is being followed closely by national media which to this point have done a exemplary job of reporting on this case.




6/28/13

UK court convicts teen for non disclosure of trans status prior to penetration

A recent court ruling in the UK sets into case law validating transpanic responses.

In a rather lengthy finding a British court ruled that a teenage trans man deceived a cisgender girl by not revealing his trans status prior to vaginal penetration with a strap on. The defendant admits to the sex act but denies using a dildo.

A very good breakdown of the case can be found at Complicity titled: Court of Appeal confirms: Stealth trans people having sex are criminals.

I'm uneducated about British law and American but to me there are a two points to examine. First this turns trans status into a liability.

Para 26 ".... where the complainant is deliberately deceived by a defendant into believing that the latter is a male.."

Paragraph 27: "deception as to gender can vitiate consent" making trans people guilty of deception simply for being trans. That finding is now case law in the UK potentiality criminalizing transsexuality and interex people who do not notify potential sexual partners (in writing?) prior to sexual contact.

Secondly, the case wasn't simply about being trans it was also about deception regardless of whether its about a trans of cis person. The issue is the vaginal penetration of a partner without her consent with a object other than what she expects I.E., a penis.

I'll probably get crucified for saying this but...supposing that both party's accurately described the circumstances prior to penetration I would have to agree the the ruling that aggrieved party was deceived. I am of the belief that disclosure of trans status with a potential sexual partner, before the sexual act occurs, is only right. Doing otherwise could be construed as deception. My opinion does not mean I think we as trans people are of less value, but we have undeniably different history in context with cisgender people and this history has a profound effect on whom we are today.

That being said, it us not right that all other other considerations, non disclouse of I.E. HIV status, age etc, to be considered OK, singling out trans status as the single criminalizing factor.

H/T to Lexie Cannes.


6/27/13

Scottish Trans and Intersex people no longer must divorce before legally transitioning but...

It's an amazing day for equality that makes me proud of my bonnie Scottish heritage. A new marriage equality bill that was made public today is arguably one of the best, but it is in need of revision to treat trans and intersex people fairly.

Up until today Scottish transgender people who wished to change gender markers legally were first required to divorce and resubmit a application for a civil partnership which was reserved for same sex couples. This process was stressful, costly and time consuming.



Under the new The Equal Marriage Bill, to be published today transgender people wishing legal gender recognition will no longer be forced to divorce first, however  if a trans person wishes to divorce a interim certificate would be issued during the process. The full Gender Recognition Certificate(GRC) will not be issued until the divorce process is complete unnecessarily delaying transition.

The Scottish Transgender Org. posted to facebook voicing their objection to Gay Star News misquoting them about the bill writing "We have NOT "applauded the bill for being tight and clearer" and have asked Gay Star News to remove that erroneous line. The Alliance commented almost immediately "Gay Star News have just apologized to us and confirmed they will correct the article. The article now reads:
Nathan Gale, a Development Worker for STA, said: ‘We are delighted that the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill has been launched today.

‘We are particularly pleased that transsexual people will no longer be forced to divorce in order to have their gender legally recognized.

‘There are some outstanding issues for trans people which we will continue to press with the Scottish Parliament and Government. But this is a substantial step towards equal marriage rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.’

According to the Scottish Transgender org mailer:

What the bill means for married trans people where they and their spouse wish
to continue their marriage:
• An application to the gender recognition panel is made
o To confirm that the couple wish to remain married, a statutory
declaration will be submitted by the trans person’s spouse stating that
they consent to the marriage continuing after gender recognition
• If the application is successful a full Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) will
be issued
• The Gender Recognition Panel will send a copy of the GRC to the Registrar
General for Scotland
• Regulations will be made by the Registrar General for issuing a suitable
additional revised marriage certificate to the couple (showing new name and
gender)

What the bill means for married trans people where either/both they and/or
their spouse do not wish to continue their marriage:
• An application to the gender recognition panel is made without any statutory
declaration from the spouse
• If the application is successful an interim Gender Recognition Certificate
(GRC) will be issued
• Either the trans person or their spouse can initiate divorce using the interim
GRC
• Once the divorce is completed the interim GRC is replaced with a full GRC

We are concerned that this process could lead to unreasonable delay in the granting
of a full GRC if the spouse is uncooperative and seeks to delay the divorce process.
We will be pushing to prevent such unreasonable delays being possible.

What the bill means for civil partnered trans people:

There will be two recognition routes for civil partnered trans people to select from.
First option:
• An application is made to the panel and an interim gender recognition
certificate is issued
• The couple either change their civil partnership into a marriage or dissolve
their civil partnership
• The interim gender recognition certificate will be replaced with a full GRC



It's interesting to note that by volume most responses were opposed to gay marriage - 64% of the 62,000 responses were against it, but most of those were generated by postcard and internet petition campaigns by religious groups; of the individual submissions on the Scottish government website, the vote was 65% in favour - a finding broadly in line with opinion polls.


6/26/13

Transgender Artist Arrested For Responding To Transphobia By Baring Her Breasts

Arsenault said the incident was provoked by questions from the flight attendant, which they deemed inappropriate.

"She came over and said, 'You guys have to teach us how to do our makeup,' " said the 39-year-old performer. "And then they were like, 'You know, because you used to be guys, right?' "

In response, Sanfino decided to strut topless down the aisle.

"She walked down the aisle with quite a bit of grace and flamboyance and had her arms out," said Arsenault. "And then the flight attendants came and covered her up, saying 'Think about the children!' "

When the plane landed officers arrested them despite there being no law against woman or men going topless in Canada. They then deleted photos and videos from their cell phones telling them that it was illegal for them to film the arrest.

It's interesting to note that while the officers arrested Sanfino for baring woman's breasts, her legal documents still identify her as male. When the officers saw their pasport gender makers indicated male they then began misgendering them, threatening to throw them in jail with men.

There are no law prohibiting Canadians from photographing and filming police as long as one is not obstructing.


6/25/13

Australia Passes Worlds First LGBT Anti Discrimination Laws That Includes Intersex People

Gay star news: Australian lawmakers have voted to make discrimination against LGBT people illegal at a national level for the first time, although religious bodies will still be mostly exempt in line with state level legislation when it comes to LGBTs.

But for the first time aged care providers who are owned by religious groups will no longer be able to exclude people from aged care based on their LGBT or same-sex relationship status.

"For the first time in Australia, and for the first time internationally, intersex people are recognised fully and authentically in anti-discrimination legislation." ~ Organisation Intersex International Australia (OII).

Morgan Carpenter (OII Australia secretary) said:

"Intersex people face discrimination because we have queer bodies. We face discrimination in access to healthcare, employment, schooling and even in interpersonal relationships. Intersex men and women face disbelief in the reality of our gender identities, and those of us who are physically most different are often the most vulnerable.

In February, the Senate agreed with us that intersex is a biological reality, and that all of us should be protected, regardless of our gender identity and without religious exemptions. This is now law, and a huge step forward that will have many positive repercussions."