Bureaucratic Identity

[Shana A]

Bureaucratic Identity
Transmissions
Published 09/22/2011

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

http://www.ebar.com/columns/column.php?sec=transmissions&article=173

Easily one of the most challenging and difficult things for a transgender or gender variant person to deal with is government paperwork. No matter what we know we are, what our friends and family may know us as, and in some cases, regardless of any medical intervention, we still have to deal with what the government says we are.

It can be a difficult process to get such paperwork updated in the case of a gender transition. Some areas will not update your paperwork to reflect a gender change without a letter from your doctor claiming you had genital reassignment surgery. Even if you update with one agency, you may still have to get updates from any number of others - and their rules may not be the same as any other place you visit.