There is an old dictum within Civil Service, "Personnel IS Policy". Some people, seeing a change in personnel in one country effective January 20, and considering other exogenous factors, are anticipating internal regulatory policy changes within one country's passport issuing agency to be made starting on January 20, 2017. While hardly guaranteed, there is a possibility that the criteria for changing the gender marker on a passport may be revised. Many folks in our community are trying to get their changes in documentation going prior to any possible change in rules, a reasonable precaution to take if this was something they were going to do anyway and they meet the standards of the current rules.
I also anticipate similar changes, but because I reside in a state, a region of that country, that has somewhat unusual rules compared to the rest of that country I am taking a somewhat different approach.
I have my court date for name and gender marker change on January 13, 2017. I already have my paperwork ready to request a corrected birth certificate and drivers license ready to go. The rules in my state are such that with a combined gender and name change, the drivers license and new birth certificate will have no visible indication of my old information. The backing computer record for the license and the original birth certificate info are sealed and require a court order to access, so electronic records search will not show the old info. I will also be updating my Social Security record with the court order.
With the new license and birth certificate, I can apply for a new passport. Since all the documents will consistently reflect my gender, I won't need to submit a revealing surgeon's letter, and the application will look like any other of the millions that pass through the passport office each year.
