Folks,
Today a legal-sized manila envelope arrived from the City of New York, where a little girl named Karla was born in the early Sixties. Now every last document reflects the truth. I can't tell you how happy and relieved I am. I'm no longer excluded from that particular thing, which cisgendered take for granted. One down, hundreds to go, through the miracle of self-advocacy.
About a year and a half ago, I traveled to NYC for the purpose of having my birth certificate fixed. They took my application and fee, but thereafter declined to so much as change my name... for lack of surgery. This is after I had a court-ordered name change, driving licence that said F and social security card and just about everything else, that bears my correct name and gender.
Discovered that there was an ongoing lawsuit against the City, that had decided to require proof of surgery. I will not discuss my opinion of that discriminatory practise, just to say that, thank heavens I got the hell out of NYC ten years ago. Eventually the City must have caved... I got a letter saying that a legal change was pending. So I made a second trip with the doctor's letter that worked for my passport, driving licence etc. Not good enough for NYC... they have a special form for the doctor to fill in and have notarised and sealed...
Now for the good news. The Deputy Director herself came out and sat down with me and walked me through the process, saying that she would personally hold my paperwork on her desk, until a fax of the completed form arrived from my doctor. And to please send the original along when I could. Wow. Wow. Shook my hand, smiles exchanged, some motherly chat about our kids...
I have a blank form should anyone need it. Please PM me.
Hugs !!!!!! :) :) :)
Congratulations!! and thank you for sharing this. I was also born in NYC and although I'm not quite ready to change my documents, I am preparing and this is great information to have. What were the requirements for the doctor's letter/form? Is this something you have to do in person, you mentioned you made a second trip to NYC, or can this also be done through the mail?
Thank you.
Congrats Karla, There is no better feeling when the new birth Certificate arrives. Hugs
Mariah
Hi Starfire!
Sorry I've been away...
It is a form, and if you have the form, you can, I think, do it in via the mails...
Here are the instructions:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/services/vr-corrections-faq.shtml#6
The specific form that it links to is here:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/vr/gendermarker.pdf
Good luck !
Karla
Quote from: Starfire on May 23, 2015, 09:40:06 PM
Congratulations!! and thank you for sharing this. I was also born in NYC and although I'm not quite ready to change my documents, I am preparing and this is great information to have. What were the requirements for the doctor's letter/form? Is this something you have to do in person, you mentioned you made a second trip to NYC, or can this also be done through the mail?
Thank you.
Karla, thank you so much for the links and information!
The process actually seems pretty straightforward, for some reason I had the impression it was much more difficult and that was the main reason I was waiting. I am going to ask my doctor to fill out the required form for me and get this process rolling.
Thanks again!
I received my corrected birth certificate!!!
I've been out of town all this past week (visiting NY and NYC, no less) and going through my mail yesterday, the big manila envelope caught my eye immediately.
The whole process took about 3 weeks through the mail. Having the correct BC will make changing my remaining documents so much easier.
Thank you again Karla!