[BurlyShirley]

Transgender New Yorkers sue over birth certificates
(Reuters Life!) - A group of transgender residents filed a lawsuit against New York City over what they say are burdensome requirements for them to change the gender on their birth certificates.

The city's birth certificate requirements amount to discrimination for transgender residents, said Noah Lewis, an attorney representing the residents in the case.

New York's Health Department requires residents to show proof of surgical procedures in order to change the gender status on a birth certificate.
But the lawsuit, filed by the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund in state Supreme Court on behalf of three residents, said many transgender people cannot afford the surgical procedures.

Instead, a note from a doctor verifying someone's transgender status should be sufficient, it said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/23/us-transgender-idUSTRE72M4U620110323

This is an issue that doesn't really affect me in any way, but shouldn't this require something more than a doctor's note?
And if you were actually born with a penis and then decided to change that somewhere along the line, shouldn't that be documented somehow?

Im picturing an episode of SVU here where the killer goes scott free because he doesn't match the sex of the rapist.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

Mebbe we should not record sex on birth certificates.

 

[jonKranked]

On my BC, under sex it says "Yes Please"

 

[BurlyShirley]

Mebbe we should not record sex on birth certificates.

Can we keep this to clever jokes please?

 

[X3pilot]

On mine, under sex it says, yep, that's how he got here and it was between 2 non relatives. (I was born in GA)

 

[ohio]

This is an issue that doesn't really affect me in any way, but shouldn't this require something more than a doctor's note?

As long as it's recorded as a change, and the original doesn't disappear down the memory hole, I don't see the problem.

 

[rockofullr]

How do you consider yourself "transgender (whatever that means)" if you haven't had any surgical procedures? Don't we call that a drag queen or cross dresser or something?

 

[ohio]

How do you consider yourself "transgender (whatever that means)" if you haven't had any surgical procedures? Don't we call that a drag queen or cross dresser or something?

You're close enough to SF that you should know this ****.

Cross dressing is just a behavior, not a condition, and it turns out it's a behavior lots of heterosexual men engage in. It's kind of a whole separate thing, that may or may not be related to being transgender. Transgender means that psychologically/neurologically someone is the opposite gender to their chromosomes.

a) Lots of folks on hormone treatment, but haven't gone under the knife
b) Lots of other folks who psychologically/neurologically are the opposite gender even without hormone therapy or surgery.

This is important knowledge to arm yourself with, in case you find yourself at 4am on shrooms looking over at the unusually tall girl with fakies sleeping next to you and wondering whether she was once a man.

 

[Toshi]

If there are two holes down below (and, no, I'm not counting the "peepee hole") then who cares if they're of artificial provenance? Amirite?

/me is not serious. No Thai ladyboys, please

 

[jimmydean]

It's not how you start, it's how you finish.

 

[rockofullr]

You're close enough to SF that you should know this ****.

Cross dressing is just a behavior, not a condition, and it turns out it's a behavior lots of heterosexual men engage in. It's kind of a whole separate thing, that may or may not be related to being transgender. Transgender means that psychologically/neurologically someone is the opposite gender to their chromosomes.

a) Lots of folks on hormone treatment, but haven't gone under the knife
b) Lots of other folks who psychologically/neurologically are the opposite gender even without hormone therapy or surgery.

This is important knowledge to arm yourself with, in case you find yourself at 4am on shrooms looking over at the unusually tall girl with fakies sleeping next to you and wondering whether she was once a man.

I know the official line from the LGBT but seriously, if you don't have to get cut to be transgender then there is essentially no physical description/definition of the term. Meaning anyone can wake up on any given day and declare themselves transgender. That's fine if it's just a term like gay or strait which don't have any legal consequence (there isn't a check box for gay/strait on official documents). When you start screwing around with peoples birth certificates I think maybe there should be a more rigorous definition.

If you can get your birth cirt changed can you then participate in professional sport as a gender other than your birth gender?

 

[Secret Squirrel]

If you can get your birth cirt changed can you then participate in professional sport as any gender you want?

Paging Michelle Dumaresq to the white courtesy phone...

 

[ohio]

Meaning anyone can wake up on any given day and declare themselves transgender.

Oh the horror.

This would hurt you in what way?

As I said above, as long as there is a record of the change to the BC, there is no danger at all of anyone abusing this for advantage in the very few cases where this would actually be some kind of advantage in life.

 

[jimmydean]

Intel requires you to live 1 full year as the assumed gender before your op will be covered under their medical plan. The catch is you have to pay out of pocket if you decide later it was a bad idea.

 

[stevew]

fingers in ears....LALALALALALALALA........

 

[stoney]

I'm totally open to the theory of 'it isn't my body, do as you please', but changing your birth certificate is a bit far. I can understand if someone is born a hermaphrodite, label the child as such. Do this knowing that there is a future option to declare a gender vs. the doctor's assignment. But this is a true medical dilemma and handicap, vs. being trans-gender.

If you are trans-gender and decide to go full bore to transsexual, go for it. Just know that your birth certificate, which proves your legal existence in this country, cannot be changed. Imagine the issues that would arise from being able to legally change your birth certificate? Candidacy for public office (age requirements for congress and president), legitimacy for the presidency, etc. Let alone the ability to defraud based on untraceable information (see HIPPA regulations).

 

[amishmatt]

 

[ohio]

Just know that your birth certificate, which proves your legal existence in this country, cannot be changed. Imagine the issues that would arise from being able to legally change your birth certificate?

There's no slippery slope here. No one is asking for the ability to change the date or location of a birth certificate or the DNA of the person tied to the birth certificate, and this doesn't set a precedent that would allow any of that.

I get that it's icky, but I have yet to see any credible argument for how it is damaging to the person or society.

"Revisionist" means erasing and rewriting, this appears to be appending.

 

[kidwoo]

This is important knowledge to arm yourself with, in case you find yourself at 4am on shrooms looking over at the unusually tall girl with fakies sleeping next to you and wondering whether she was once a man.

fingers in ears....LALALALALALALALA........

Quote consolidation is fun!

 

[nyhc00]

so with this line of logic, someone with a lot of tattoos with say, black or dark ink could change their birth certificate and declare themselves a different race. On one hand that is a ridiculous example, but on the other hand, so is the premise of this article. And also, a doctor's note? Seriously?

 

[Westy]

so with this line of logic, someone with a lot of tattoos with say, black or dark ink could change their birth certificate and declare themselves a different race. On one hand that is a ridiculous example, but on the other hand, so is the premise of this article. And also, a doctor's note? Seriously?

Or if you registered as a republican you could be considered legally retarded and collect disability.

 

[nyhc00]

Or if you registered as a republican you could be considered legally retarded and collect disability.

bingo, i think you're onto something here

 

[MikeD]

There's no slippery slope here. No one is asking for the ability to change the date or location of a birth certificate or the DNA of the person tied to the birth certificate, and this doesn't set a precedent that would allow any of that.

I get that it's icky, but I have yet to see any credible argument for how it is damaging to the person or society.

"Revisionist" means erasing and rewriting, this appears to be appending.

Actually, it is kind of a problem... Making an arbitrary change to a major personal identifier (and one that's a particularly big eliminator in identity confusion cases where a cop/customs/etc is trying to determine if you're actually the person named in a warrant or other law enforcement lookout) is a dream for a lot of criminals, especially your drug-runner/human smuggler/trafficker types.

Just show up in a dress/suit, say you feel like a woman/man that day, and suddenly you're a new person in your base record, from which new records arise? Sounds like a bad, bad idea to me. But then again, you know what I do.

I also know that fraudsters are generally much smarter than me, so I apply my limited intelligence to limiting their playing field. I certainly think that while people have the right to be who they want to be, this sort of thing is trying to bend a tangible situation to match the rhetorical construct of post-modern "reality" to the point of absurdity. Even if you're trans-gender, you might just have to suck it up and face the fact that while you're free to make your own choices, chance and biology didn't agree with you on the day your first cell came into being. A doctor's note isn't exactly too much to ask, either.

It's almost Life of Brian in this case: "I want to have babies!"

 

[X3pilot]

 

[rockofullr]

Even if you're trans-gender, you might just have to suck it up and face the fact that while you're free to make your own choices, chance and biology didn't agree with you on the day your first cell came into being.

But my mommy told me that I could be whatever I want when I grow up......



Even if I wanna be a lady

 

[stevew]

This is important knowledge to arm yourself with, in case you find yourself at 4am on shrooms looking over at the unusually tall girl with fakies sleeping next to you and wondering whether she was once a man.

if you ever hear a lady talk about the great time she had in trinidad, colorado....chances are.....