Unified rules regarding Birth Certificates and Federal Documents

[Khalysta]

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/provide-equality-transgender-documentation/40X9wyZp

I put this up on the whitehouse.gov petition site for those of us who were born in states like ohio where they will not amend the gender marker and other states who apply amendments.  I feel if the federal government will recognize me as female for Social Security and Passports then your other vital documents should also match in a way that doesn't clue people into your past life.  We just want to be who we are and those things start with the small things like a birth certificate.

I think its great that there are new rules regarding discrimination but when it comes to transgendered people like ourselves sometimes those vital documents like a birth certificate not matching can lead to some odd looks and questions.  I'm not really the crusader type usually but it pisses me off how easily things are changed here in california and with the government but since I was born in ohio I cannot get my gender marker changed on the most basic of personal documents.

Feel free to pass the link around if you would like to help since it needs 125 people before its nationally visible.

[LizMarie]

Signed. And shared on Facebook. Hopefully this gets a little visibility.

[mrs izzy]

Khalysta,
I wish you luck on this.

The goverment has nothing to do with birth certificates, it is controled on the state level.

I would put my attentions to the state you live in. That is how other states have made changes in the way they handle transgenders.

Look for a state transgender equality group and try and work on getting your state on board.

Just a fyi on the federal level they still can not get passed anti-discrimination laws to protect gender idenity.

Maybe one day?

Lots of luck
Isabell

Here are a few links that might help

www.glaad.org/tags/equality-ohio
www.transohio.org
www.hrc.org/states/ohio‎

[tgchar21]

I agree with Isabell - what this petition is trying to accomplish will likely result in a lawsuit from one or more states claiming that it encroaches on their powers (birth certificates have always been handled at the state/local level for those born in a state). I understand the OP's desire to not have mismatched documents, but you need to remember that the U.S. system of government is set up so that states are their own semi-sovereign entities and not merely political subdivisions (that's why we have the Electoral College and each state gets the same amount of representation in the Senate regardless of its population). In fact, if Republicans were the party in charge at the federal level right now (like they were when Real ID was passed, a law that likewise tries to encroach on state powers but yet the trans* community largely opposes), most of us would be crying that the federal government NOT set up a uniform system on how gender markers are handled (since it probably wouldn't be for the better). If you don't like how the state in question handles gender markers, you should take that up with the government of that state.

[LizMarie]

Yet it is completely within the power of the executive branch to establish recommended guidelines. Once established, political activists can point to those and ask why their state is so backwards? A state is still free to do certain asinine things but the more public pressure brought to bear, the more likely the bigoted opposition will eventually crack.

Did you see the video of the transwoman in Louisiana who went to a city council meeting when a bible spouting council member wanted to repeal recently passed trans protection ordinances? She brought this big stone and told him if he was going to spout the bible, he couldn't pick and choose so he ought to stone her to death too and then offered him the stone. The reaction in the gallery was great and the council member withdrew his proposed repeal with the entire council agreeing with the withdrawal.

Not fearing the bigots, standing up to them, and pointing out the absurdities of their positions will push them even further to the margins of society and show those who do not yet have opinions that extremist opinions like that are not popular.

A set of recommended national guidelines would provide more of just that sort of ammunition. It would also give activists a common basis on which to draft legislative changes to bring each state into line with the recommended guidelines.

My assessment? Such a petition cannot hurt at all.

[tgchar21]

@LizMarie - Good point. Guidelines, yes. A legally-binding requirement, will probably be challenged (and as I hinted a good chance of being struck down based on state's rights).

[Khalysta]

I live in california so making a difference in ohio is difficult.  I guess in most ways I am lucky with california's laws.  It makes no sense to me though that my passport and social security card can differ from my birth certificate.  We have computers and databases now that print out these documents.  I will never really fully lose my old self I think as extensive background checks can be.  To me it just doesn't make sense if the feds see me as one way why the states shouldn't also be forced into the same recognition.

This whole process seems like a lot of small battles and the birth certificate is just one of them.  I've just been getting really frustrated with it all and how simple things differ all over.  It's 2014, you can do these changes pretty easily so it makes it all the more frustrating.

[Missadventure]

I live in california so making a difference in ohio is difficult.

I did the opposite move. I was born in california and moved to Ohio... Couldn't get out of that state fast enough, and my two years there was two years too long. But, I'm still registered to vote there, so if you can get something on the Ohio ballot I will absolutely vote for it!

Tho, it's an uphill battle. Ohio has some absolutely stupid laws. Highlights including: Employers can legally fire you for smoking cigarettes in the privacy of your own home, and, my personal favorite, internet cafes are a violation of law because patrons can use online gambling sites, and therefor the cafe itself constitutes an illegal gambling facility. So, while all that kind of assinanny goes on, I can't foresee sweeping changes to transgender rights being high for the state legislature.

[Hikari]

I find it particularly unfair the way this is handled, if your state doesn't allow concealed carry, gay marriage, or fireworks you can just move somewhere that does, but you don't get to control where you were born. It really seems like at the very least that states should be able to issue their own birth certs for residents who were born in other states.

What I mean is if I go from Maryland to Virginia the DMV in Virginia is going to acknowledge my MD if card and issue me a VA one. Why can't a state issue an amended birth cert based on an original from a different state, I mean I am pretty sure that is constitutional and doesn't hurt the rights of the states at all.

[tgchar21]

I live in california so making a difference in ohio is difficult.  I guess in most ways I am lucky with california's laws.  It makes no sense to me though that my passport and social security card can differ from my birth certificate.  We have computers and databases now that print out these documents.  I will never really fully lose my old self I think as extensive background checks can be.  To me it just doesn't make sense if the feds see me as one way why the states shouldn't also be forced into the same recognition.

The good news is that for "typical" background checks like the kind you might get for a non-high-security job, what your birth certificate says is largely irrelevant. For these checks the most likely way you'd be outed is via a "Social Security Number Trace" (search the Internet for that if you want to learn more) where, based on a compilation of records for things like former jobs, credit applications, etc. where your name, address, and SSN are compiled together (this is NOT a check of the government's SSA database), can show other addresses you've lived at and/or names you've used for these purposes. (This is basically the same process that they used to compile this information onto a person's credit report.) Unfortunately the only way to avoid this being an issue is to either 1)Change your name before you move to the USA, or when you're a child or teenager, before you have any of these kinds of records tied to your SSN, or 2)Go through the theoretically-possible-for-TSs-but-very-difficult-in-practice process of getting a new SSN.