Papers, please!
Transmissions
Published 06/17/2010
by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
http://www.ebar.com/columns/column.php?sec=transmissions&article=139Sometimes, changes can seem glacial. We can look back on more than 15 years since the introduction of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and the actual passage of this bill – let alone full transgender inclusion – seems just as far away as it did then. The military's anti-gay "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, enacted two presidencies ago, is still the law of the land. Transgender people still usually get short shrift from the Human Rights Campaign and other rights organizations, let alone the public overall. Indeed, sometimes it feels like progress is traveling at something far less than a snail's pace. This causes one to be positively thrown for a loop when, out of nowhere, a change comes along that many did not see coming.
Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department issued new policies around passports. The change in rules allows for a transgender person to get the gender marker changed on their passport with certification from an attending medical physician. All the doc needs to state is that the applicant has undergone appropriate clinical treatment, and the passport will be updated. This policy also allows for a "limited-validity" passport if the statement by one's physician indicates that the applicant is currently in the process of transition.
