NAME CHANGE

As some of you may have assumed by now, I have finally had my legal name changed! No, it’s not Huck, as that is just my internet identity. No, I won’t tell you what my birth name was, nor what I changed my name to.

The worst part about the name change process was the cost and having to wait so long. When I showed up for my court date in January, the court clerk attempted to reschedule me again. However, I begged with her and told her that I had taken off work in order to come get this done and was tired of waiting (it had been nearly six months since I filed!). She agreed to let me see the judge. The judge was in the middle of some criminal proceedings, so I had to stand in the court room, in front of a jury, and be sworn into truth. Once it was determined that I was under oath, the judge asked me why I am changing my name. When I said “common usage”, she asked me to explain further, and I simply stated “This is the name I use in my personal and professional life and I would like my documents to reflect that”. She asked me to state that I am not doing this in an attempt to defraud anyone, and once I agreed to that, she signed the documents and sent them with the court clerk to be filed. I was then escorted by the court clerk down to the cashier, where I paid for my certified copies and then left.

I bought eight certified copies, which was a bit too much in retrospect, as most places just want to see the document, not keep it. That day I immediately changed my driver’s license and my social security card. In the next few days I changed my title to my car, all of my bank and credit card documents. I still need to go back and change all of my school documents, but I just haven’t had the time and it’s not a priority at the moment. Dually, I am not going to change my birth certificate until I am able to change the sex on my birth certificate, so I am able to do it all at once (I was born in Hawaii, so the distance is really the issue with this).

I also just got one of the first letters for changing over my passport from the clinic here in Atlanta. Once I have the extra cash, I’m going to do that, so I can finally travel in (somewhat) peace!

FAMILY

My family has really come a long way. My mother has made huge leaps and bounds in accepting me, and even told me that she envision a day where she’ll be able to call me by my chosen name. I am so incredibly happy and lucky to have such and amazing family.

SURGERY

I am very lucky to have recently landed a full-time job with a national LGBT non-profit organization. As part of my benefits, I get excellent health care coverage with CIGNA, who fully covers any and all transgender related surgeries!! However, since I have been without health insurance for over 6 months, I have to wait a full year before they will cover it (since transition related medical care is considered part of the “pre-existing conditions” clause for coverage).

So sometime next summer I’ll be having chest surgery!

I’ll be updating more, but for now, I need to do a major site overhaul. In particular, the resources section is going to be updated as I stumbled upon even more resources to share. Thanks for reading!

New Policy on Gender Change in Passports Announced

Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
June 9, 2010

The U.S. Department of State is pleased to use the occasion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month to announce its new policy guidelines regarding gender change in passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad.

Beginning June 10, when a passport applicant presents a certification from an attending medical physician that the applicant has undergone appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition, the passport will reflect the new gender. The guidelines include detailed information about what information the certification must include. It is also possible to obtain a limited-validity passport if the physician’s statement shows the applicant is in the process of gender transition. No additional medical records are required. Sexual reassignment surgery is no longer a prerequisite for passport issuance. A Consular Report of Birth Abroad can also be amended with the new gender.

As with all passport applicants, passport issuing officers at embassies and consulates abroad and domestic passport agencies and centers will only ask appropriate questions to obtain information necessary to determine citizenship and identity.

The new policy and procedures are based on standards and recommendations of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), recognized by the American Medical Association as the authority in this field.

I contacted the Passport Help Line to get more information on what the guidelines are (which I can’t seem to find on the internet). The help desk person told me that since the press release was just made, it’s likely that he’s not updated on the information yet, but what he can tell us now is that you need to have documents to prove citizenship, a name change, your passport photograph needs to reflect your gender you are changing it to, and a letter from a physician detailing that you have undergone some kind of treatment. As regards to “detailing treatment” he was unable to elaborate and says perhaps that information will be available in the next week or two online.

UPDATE: This information is now available online at: State Dept. document on gender change now available: http://ow.ly/1WQry (It’s a PDF document that you can choose to download or view).

TDOR is an annual event that memorializes those who died due to transgender related hatred or prejudice. This year, 143 people were murdered all over the world for being themselves (and these are only the murders that were reported as such). The International Transgender Day of Remembrance website lists the names, locations, date of death, and other information for those who passed away each year due to transgender related bias .

One listing from their website reads (warning, graphic):

Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado
Location: Cayey, Peurto Rico
Cause of Death: decapitated
Date of Death: November 14, 2009
Jorge was found on the site of an isolated road in the city of Cayey, he was partially burned, decapitated, and dismembered, both arms, both legs, and the torso.
Jorge was 19 years old.
Sources: http://www.365gay.com/news/murder-suspect-thought-puerto-rico-gay-teen-was-a-woman/

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2397832/hate_crime_gay_puerto_rican_teen_george.html

http://www.towleroad.com/2009/11/gay-puerto-rican-teen-decapitated-dismembered-and-burned.html

http://www.towleroad.com/2009/11/man-arrested-in-horrific-murder-of-puerto-rican-gay-teen.html

-TDOR.org

It has been really important to me in the past two years of being out to attend/participate in TDOR events. At my university last year, I was responsible for organizing the TDOR demonstration that was held on campus. This year, I attended the TDOR event in Atlanta, GA.

The event this year was two part, one indoor version with people speaking (very conference style), and the other was an outdoor candlelight vigil on the state capitol steps while each name was read aloud followed by the single chime of a bell.

This is a picture of me and my girlfriend at the Atlanta TDOR service.

It was a good service, but TDOR always gets me down. It’s like going to a funeral (and that particular day it was my second one). Not to mention I have some criticisms (surprise, surprise). For instance, NOTHING was said about how an overwhelming majority of the names called out were 1) trans women, 2) people of color, 3) from Central and South America. WTF. There was some serious white privilege going on at this event (or plain ignorance).

Dually, I was annoyed at the first portion of the event (the conference style) that failed to call to action change encompassing an intersection of oppressions – racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, abelism, ect – and instead took way too much time honoring and recognizing the multitude of politicians and faith leaders in the audience.

There was just too much that went unsaid and too much that needed to be said again. Our community faces this kind of violence as a whole, but as a COMMUNITY, we must also recognize that we all face this violence differently. Does being white protect me from transphobia? Maybe, maybe not. But it is my duty as a trans person and an ally to people of color to at least acknowledge (I would hope do more than just that) that the death statistics are overwhelmingly trans women who are people of color and who live in what our nation calls “third world countries” (fuck that phrase) and who likely are working class or sex workers (or may not have a job at all).

So listen close my trans friends and allies. Recognize the stats, and fucking call them out. Stop being an ally only to the trans portion of people’s identities, but start being an ally to the entire person.

I recently attended the Equality Federation Summer Conference, and had the wonderful opportunity of meeting Mara Keisling (the Executive Director for The National Center for Transgender Equality). My roommate for the conference, Shaun Fetman, runs a YouTube channel (snipncody) about gender related things. While at the conference, he interviewed Mara about ENDA. This video is a great ENDA refresher, and defiantly worth watching.

TGEU & Liminalis Press Release:

Every 3rd day the murder of a trans person is reported:

Trans Murder Monitoring Project reveals more than 200 reported murders of trans persons in the last 1 1/2 years

In April 2009 the international NGO Transgender Europe (TGEU) in cooperation with the multilingual Online-Magazine “Liminalis — A Journal for Sex/Gender Emancipation and Resistance” started a new project, the /Trans Murder Monitoring Project/, which focuses on systematically reporting murdered trans people on a worldwide scale.

The very preliminary results of the first step of this project have revealed a total of 204 cases of reported murders of trans people world wide in the last 1 1/2 years. 121 cases of murdered trans people have been reported in 2008. From January to June 2009 already 83 cases of murdered trans people have been reported.

Furthermore, the preliminary results show an increase in the number of reports of murdered trans people over the last years. Since the beginning of 2008 the murder of a trans person is reported every third day, on average.

The cases have been reported from all six World regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The majority of cases have been reported from Latin America and North America. On these continents the majority of cases have been reported from Brazil (59) and the U.S.A. (16) for 2008 and from Brazil (23), Venezuela (20), and Guatemala (10) for the first six months of 2009. Moreover, the preliminary results show a total of 11 murdered trans people reported for Colombia followed by 5 for Honduras and 4 for Mexico and Venezuela for 2008, and 6 for Mexico and 3 for Argentina, and the Dominican Republic for the first six months of 2009.

In total 91 murders of trans people were reported in 11 Latin American countries in 2008, and 73 murders of trans people in 11 Latin American countries in the first six months of 2009. The reported murders of trans people in Latin America account for 75% and 88% of the world wide reported murders of trans people in 2008 and the first six months of 2009 respectively.**

The preliminary results also reveal that murders of trans people have been reported in 5 European countries in 2008 (Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey) and in 4 European countries (Russia, Serbia, Spain, Turkey) in the first six months of 2009. In Asia murders of trans people were reported for Iraq, Malaysia, and Singapore in 2008, and for India in the first six months of 2009. In Oceania murders of trans people were reported for Australia in 2008, and for New Zealand in the first six months of 2009. In total the preliminary results show reports of murdered trans people in 22 countries in 2008, and in 17 countries in the first six months of 2009.

The preliminary results furthermore reveal some terrifying details on the nature of these crimes. The data shows that in 2008 six of the victims were minors and in the first six months of 2009 three minors were among the victims. One of these minors, 15 year-old Leticia King from Oxnard (USA), was shot twice in the head by a classmate in front of the whole class. Apart from these brutal murders, 5 of the reported murdered trans persons in 2008 were found tortured or dismembered, 2 were shot by retired policemen, and 3 were executed in police stations. 5 of the reported murdered trans persons were found tortured or dismembered in the first six months of 2009.

The preliminary results of TGEU’s and Liminalis’ Trans Murder Monitoring project are presented in form of a report, tables, name lists, and maps in the new issue of Liminalis (www.liminalis.de/project.html) in English, Spanish, and German.

Here are the direct links to the PDFs of the report and its component parts:
Report
Name list 2008
Name list January-June 2009
Tables 2008
Tables January-June 2009
Map 2008
Map January-June 2009

Cross posted at: Questioning Transphobia and Bird of Paradox.

The panel was moderated by BT, and included Cole Thaler the Transgender Rights Attorney of Lambda Legal, Cheryl Courtney-Evens of Transgender Individuals Living Their Truth (TILT), Tracee McDaniels of Juxtaposed Center For Transformation , Chanel Haley of TILT, and Sonny Nordmarken, a student and local activist.

Here are some quotes that got me thinking about things:

“I am looking forward to the time when we can be seen as the human community,” – Tracee McDaniels

In reference to homelessness in the transgender community (which by the way, is a huge issue) Tracee McDaniels said, ” We should all be totally outraged that there are people in our society who cannot go to a shelter in their time of need.”

“It baffles me that we still have to justify who we are,” – Cole Thaler

“[Stonewall] stands for a time when we said, ‘Enough is enough!’,” – Chanel Haley

Stonewall was about people fighting back against the police. “Police are still killing us. Why does that not have people out in the streets?” – Cole Thaler

So the topics discussed included why the T needs to be included in the LGB movement, homelessness in the transgender community, violence against transgender people, and what the Stonewall Riots means to each of the panelists. I hope you enjoyed these quotes, and I hope they get you thinking.

The Senate has just moved to add the Hate Crimes Bill, S. 909, to the Defense Authorization Act, which would guarantee its defeat. It is absolutely urgent that everyone contact their Senators today and tell them to save The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
- National Center for Transgender Equality

You need to call your Senator NOW and ask them to save the hate crimes bill from certain death! If it’s added to the defense authorization bill it will be the death of hate crimes this year.

You can look up your Senator’s direct phone number here.

Or call (202) 224-3121 and tell them to SAVE THE HATE CRIMES BILL.

Here is an example letter that my partner sent to her senator:

Senator,

It is with the utmost urgency that I ask you to please save the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, S.909, by refusing to attach it to the Defense Auth Act. This attachment will certainly mean the death of this incredibly important act that seeks to seeks to expand upon 1969 U.S. federal hate-crime law by extending its scope towards bodily crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability, in addition to the current provisions of bodily crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, and national origin. It would also codify and expand the funding and investigative capabilities of federal officials for aiding their local counterparts.

Myself, my friends, my family, and the lives of GLBT citizens depend on you to look out for them. Please do not attach S.909 to the Defense Auth Act.

Thank you for all your hardwork and dedication to improving the lives of Californians.

Sincerely,

Erin P.

At 8pm today the National Center for Transgender Equality held a conference call for activists, transgender people, allies, and leaders of the movement around the country to discuss the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). As you know, from my earlier post, a transgender inclusive ENDA has been re-introduced to the House by Barney Frank – this time with 118 co-supporters of the bill (over double of when the bill was introduced last time!). The conference call had over 150 individuals on it, and began promptly at 8pm. I took notes throughout the whole thing in order to report back to you, my readers.

So here we go:

After the introductions, there was a conversation about the bill. It is the same ENDA language as before (except, obviously inclusive). There will be an official bill number by tomorrow, and you should be able to find the actual language of the bill online if you are interested in it. I assume NCTE will link it on their site at some point tomorrow or Friday.

Mara Keisling then led a conversation about the time line we can expect to see with ENDA:

• The Senate: We can expect to see the Hate Crimes Bill to be passed out of the Senate and onto the President’s desk by August 6, 2009. In terms of ENDA, we are unsure when the Senate will pass it — it all depends on how quickly the House moves.
• The House: Sometime in July there will be a floor discussion about ENDA. The exact date is not set. There WILL be a vote on ENDA by the end of the calendar year.
• The President has agreed to sign onto ENDA, which will help us immensely when we get the bill into the Senate, which will be a harder win.

Mara then turned the floor over to Mason Davis, of the Transgender Law Center, to talk about what we can all do at home (whether you are an activist, ally, friend, family member, or leader):

• Make sure your Senator and local Representative hears from you! August 6 – September 4 is recess, and your Senator and Representative will be in their home districts and available to talk to you. Call in and make an appointment NOW! That way you can meet with them in person.
• If you cannot meet with them in person, then write & call. If you are transgender, tell them how this bill affects you. Tell them how there are transgender people in their district. If you are an ally, explain how this bill affects you too because it affects your loved ones.
• NCTE will put up an action package on their website that will be available for download tomorrow. Download it for detailed suggestions on what you can do.
• If you live in a district or state that does not have particularly friendly representatives, don’t be discouraged. Win them over with cookies. Show them you can do something for them by attending one of their events that you can stand to tend. Tell them personal stories. With some patience and persistence, you can change their minds through education.

Before we moved on to the tone of these visits, we had a few words from a special guest — Chaz Bono!! He said a few words, and NCTE shared their support of him in terms of coming out of the closet. Here’s some quotes:

• “ENDA has been close to my heart for a really long time.”
• “It feels really good that this is the first thing I am getting involved in after coming out as a transgendered man.”

It was nice having Chaz on the phone!

Then it was back to Mason Davis to discuss the tone of our visits with our representatives.

• “As Diego mentioned earlier, Rep. Barney Frank is confident about ENDA’s success,” – Davis.
• We must keep a positive intent!
• Make sure that when you go talk to people about ENDA you maintain confidence that this bill will pass. Your confidence will inspire others to work on the bill.
• Remember, do not put anyone down or talk about the shortcomings of the past. By maintaining a positive outlook we will successfully convince others to join the movement of passing and inclusive ENDA within a year!

“It’s up to US to do OUR work,” – Mara Kesling

“We’re going to get this done this time, we are going to get this done,” – Diego Sanchez

Tomorrow, or Friday, NCTE will launch a national petition. We need to get as many people and organizations to sign the petition as wee can. However, the petition will not be effective without phone calls. If we can get even half the people that sign the petition to CALL, then we will win this. You have to think about it in terms of opposition – our opposition will organize people to call in against ENDA. So please, try and find ways to call in.

Then NCTE opened the floor to questions, and my dear friend Shawna pushed *1 quickly and was the fourth person to ask a question. Congrats Shawna!

There was a question about if ENDA would include a “religious exemption”. And the short answer is yes. What this means is that “any religious institution does not have to abide by ENDA” (Mara). “What [this clause] does is allow the Interfaith Coucil to get all of its members to sign on to support ENDA,” (Diego Sanchez). So, religious institutions will be exempt (churches, private religious schools, ect), but individual people will not be able to claim faith as a reason for not enforcing ENDA.

After a few more questions, the call was over.

I feel really good about it, and excited about the new ENDA. I have faith that this time things will go smoothly. I also think that Rep. Frank and HRC has “learned their lesson” so to speak, and will stand behind an inclusive ENDA for good now. Not willing to talk to congress people? Then find another way to get involved. One of the major supporters of ENDA in the state of GA is Georgia Equality – you can support their efforts by getting involved in events or initiatives they may hold. If you are unable to travel, then use the internet as a way of doing activism – cross post petitions, write blog entries, encourage people to get involved.

COMING SOON: An initiative to collect stories on why ENDA is important to present to Senators and Representatives. This will be a collaborative effort of Shawna and I. I will post an entirely separate entry about this later when we have more information on what the project will be, how to contact us, and how to get involved.

Right now, we are at a press conference on Capitol Hill about the introduction of a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) which would extend the existing federal law prohibiting employment discrimination to protect people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Representative Barney Frank, joined by Reps. Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis, introduced the bill this afternoon, joined by a bi-partisan group of Representatives.

NCTE’s Executive Director, Mara Keisling, commented, “Day after day, we hear from transgender people who have lost their jobs for no other reason than plain and simple discrimination. This includes people who have had long and distinguished careers who, after they transition, suddenly find themselves unable to find meaningful work and young transgender people who are unable to get their first job. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act will be an important step in helping these folks get to work. When asked, Americans are consistently clear on the fact that we believe that people should be judged at work for the quality of their work, not on unrelated factors. This bill would bring the law into line with what Americans already know-prejudice has no place in the American workplace.”

NCTE is calling on its members to be actively involved in the process of passing the bill, including visiting their members of Congress during the summer. The organization has been working for this bill from its inception in 2003.

For more information contact Mara Keisling or Justin Tanis at 202-903-0112.

I hope this ENDA remains inclusive, and that the big, white, gay male orgs don’t fuck it up all over again.

—–
I’ll respond to portions of your post in a quotations then response fashion, as I can’t think clearly right now.

“If a bio-born male identifies as female, I am a little uncomfortable with her describing femaleness as a freeing experience when women are de facto an oppressed group worldwide. And when a bio-born female identifies as male, I cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that being recognized as male automatically confers male privilege upon oneself.”

I think a trans woman describing her woman identity, and femininity as “freeing” has to do with the fact that she has experienced internalized conflict of not having her assigned sex align with her gender identity or expression or expectations that society puts upon her. I think there is a similar (but not identical) feeling of when a woman finds solace in expressing her masculinity or femininity when that was suppressed (like when I identified as a lesbian, I found expressing extreme femininity empowering to me).

This feeling of liberation is rooted in the freeing of one’s gender identity, even if that places them into a box of oppression. The oppressive nature of the patriarchy does not keep women from feeling empowered, right, free, or any other sense because they can or choose to express themselves in the way they see fit.

Yes, a trans man, like myself, cannot deny the fact that he does acquire male privilege (assuming that one passes as male in the first place). Dually, the Feminist Movement cannot deny the fact that trans women lose that privilege and face all of the harsh realities that other women face when they are living in a patriarchal society.

Also, be careful with the word “bio-born” as it implies that one person is less biological than the other. Is that really true? I tend to just stick to language of “assigned male at birth” or “assigned female at birth” because it is also inclusive of intersex people that may or may not identify as transgender.

“What does “appropriate to your proper sex” mean, and how can I understand it without inferring the involvement and reinforcement of crippling gender roles I oppose as a cis female feminist? How is Lisa’s statement not a reinforcement of our socially enforced gender dichotomy? The idea of gender-appropriateness sent up a HUGE red flag for me.”

I have a hard time accepting gender roles that are considered “appropriate” to one’s sex. However, Lisa’s experience may be that she views herself not only as a woman but as having a feminine identity and her idea of femininity may align with the gender roles that society dictates. There is nothing wrong with that. There is also nothing wrong with those whose identities work against “typical” gender roles -whether they be transgender or cisgender. In reality, we need to all get to accepting that people can express themselves in whatever fashion they see fit, and that shouldn’t be a threat to anyone’s identity or agenda. Lisa’s expression of femininity and her gender may in fact work in conjunction with the dichotomy of expression our society sets us up for – but at the same time, her gender and expression is what she feels she needs to do for herself, and what is right for herself.

So I guess in terms of the status quo, I would challenge you – why does it really matter? Feminism should not be at war with masculinity (and those that view Feminism this way likely are the same that view trans men as traitors to the movement), but rather working to de-privilege masculinity. I guess where I am going with this is, yes dichotomies are bad, but just because you fit into the model does not mean your expression of yourself is wrong.

“So I don’t know what Lisa means here: a trans person only finds their anatomy to be lacking? This can’t be true, or transitioning individuals would not so frequently take on the trappings of the gender roles that accompany their true sex.”

Like I was trying to get at earlier – there is no “right” way of being trans. I don’t think it is simply about anatomy of lacking, nor is it simply about taking on the “trappings of gender roles”. Its a lot more complicated than that, and that looks very different for each person.

Also, I do not think your vision is anti-trans, but it may be kind a idealistic. People will always find a way to create a system of differences between each other, whether that’s on gender or not.

Sorry for the length of the comment. I hope it helped.