That's it? About 100 people/yr change the sex on their birth certificate in NYS

[Evelyn K]

Given how large that state is (New York) having only about 100 gender changes per year really underscores the minority size of our group.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/05/us-usa-transgender-newyork-idUSKBN0EG2FK20140605

Isn't this somewhat depressing? Whatever happened to the 1:51 estimated to be trans?

[Flan]

Isn't this somewhat depressing? Whatever happened to the 1:51 estimated to be trans?

Doesn't necessarily mean the one in (insert number) are able to obtain surgery (or even want it in the first place). That said there's still a lot of ignorance in terms of knowledge of the legal system so I'm guessing that number will go up but not necessarily in the thousands a year.

[allisonsteph]

Given how large that state is (New York) having only about 100 gender changes per year really underscores the minority size of our group.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/05/us-usa-transgender-newyork-idUSKBN0EG2FK20140605

Isn't this somewhat depressing? Whatever happened to the 1:51 estimated to be trans?

Considering the requirement for chaining the gender on one's birth certificate in New York State used to be detailed surgical notes I'm not surprised that only 100 people a year changed their birth certificates. I am sure that number will go up now the requirements are "clinically appropriate treatment". I know I intend on changing mine as soon as I am able.

[Cindy]

I'm not sure of the law in NY, but in Australia the only document we cannot change is the birth certificate. We can have it changed but .. if you are married you have to get a divorce as same sex marriage is illegal here and they count the birth certificate as proof of same sex marriage.

Ignorant cruel bastards that they are. (sorry, I'm happily married for 35 years).

[Ms Grace]

We can change our birth certificate gender marker in New South Wales, Australia but only after SRS.

[Misha]

Here it's like 40 to 80 legal sex conversions with new birth certificate per year. And Czech Republic has a population of like 10 million.

If you would add the additional birth certificates for neutral name changes (required right before HRT) it would be double but legal sex and gender markers remain the same.

Going through full sex reassignment therapy you can't avoid the legally defined process. The law is very defined in this and missed "change requests" will be force by the court. And for all married: here existing marriage has to be divorced even before HRT starts.

I wrote about our legal process here if someone wishes to compare the legislation:
Re: so what would be the rational legal definition
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,167875.msg1459714.html#msg1459714

[Cindy]

We can change our birth certificate gender marker in New South Wales, Australia but only after SRS.

- and you can't be married! It is a federal policy.

[Donna Elvira]

The population of NY state is apparently just under 20 million. Compared to what I know here in France, population about 65 million, a far higher proportion of people get their gender markers changed  in NY than in France.

I doubt anything remotely like a 100 people/year get their gender markers changed here, this in spite of the fact that in France, getting your birth certificate modified is the only way you can get other documents modified ie. national I.D. card, passport, driving licence, social security card...

The fact of the matter is that no matter how many people suffer from some form of GID, the numbers who actually go the whole way with a transition are very, very small, maybe in part because it still remains very, very difficult for many of us.

To be honest, I don't think you have to go much further than this site, almost certainly the most popular trans site on the planet, to understand how small the numbers are. Sure quite a lot of people come through the site but if you look at  subjects like GRS or FFS  for example, how many people here actually do these surgeries every year?  From what I have seen I think it's unlikely the numbers go much beyond 100 to 200 for either surgery.

I guess that while this means we can never expect any sort of mass movement in favour of our rights, it also happily means that most people are quite happy with the gender they were assigned at birth...

Donna


P.S. Since the introduction of same sex marriage last year, getting a divorce is no longer a requirement for a legal gender change for those of us who are married.

[crowcrow223]

I guess that while this means we can never expect any sort of mass movement in favour of our rights

I have to disagree Think pride weeks every year. Who started them? Trans women of colour. Let's look at the world surrounding us now, the awareness is growing and growing, more people come out, gain acceptance, new laws are being instituted, the medical aspect of transitioning is moving forward very fast, we can observe the change for better almost every day.

When it comes to the 1:51 ratio it might have been speaking of transgender people in terms of including people who are just androgynous, or represent gender variations, cross dressers, ->-bleeped-<-s, intersexed people, dunno

But there's definitely very, very, very little of us in the society. Yet we still succeed at making our voices heard.

Be proud ladies and gents!

[cruise4burgers]

- and you can't be married! It is a federal policy.

The Greens are sponsoring a bill to end this.
It will likely be blocked but at least it's on the agenda, same sex marriage should come with the next government.

[Blue Senpai]

Unfortunately, the new law doesn't affect NYC. Thankfully, I wasn't born here.

[Donna Elvira]

I have to disagree Think pride weeks every year. Who started them? Trans women of colour. Let's look at the world surrounding us now, the awareness is growing and growing, more people come out, gain acceptance, new laws are being instituted, the medical aspect of transitioning is moving forward very fast, we can observe the change for better almost every day.

When it comes to the 1:51 ratio it might have been speaking of transgender people in terms of including people who are just androgynous, or represent gender variations, cross dressers, ->-bleeped-<-s, intersexed people, dunno

But there's definitely very, very, very little of us in the society. Yet we still succeed at making our voices heard.

Be proud ladies and gents!

Hi there,
In no way am I denying that there is a very positive trend regarding "minority rights" in general, at least in the western countries,which obviously also works in favour of the Trans community. However without the LGB contingent, I'm not sure we would have come any where nearly as far or as fast as it really is a numbers game.

Also, why I see things improving rapidly in many countries, in France this is not exactly the case. I believe this is at least partially due to the fact that the Trans community here is very divided with a lot of generals (who agree on nothing) and very few soldiers. Because of this, Trans rights here are lagging seriously behind almost all of the other European countries, the U.S., Canada etc..

That being said, just coming out, showing that we exist and don't necessarily correspond to the stereotypes people have in mind, does indeed help to progressively create more space for all. 

Take care!
Donna

[Ltl89]

Considering that we are such a minority and there are huge restrictions to changing your birth certificate, it's really not all that surprising.  I'm in NY and don't know too many other transexual people.  I do know a few, but it's a small group of people.  And among those people, all are at different stages in their transition and have different goals in terms of where they would like to take it. 

[crowcrow223]

Good points Donna, thank you!