Travel to Australia from Canada - questions and concerns.

[Violet Bloom]

  I know there are a number of Australian members on Susan's so hopefully you guys can help me with some information and advice.  I'm currently doing research on travel to Australia because I might be tagging along with family on a trip later this year.  While I've well-enough finished my MTF transition and life is good, my identity documents haven't been changed to reflect this yet.  (The entire government policy is in flux right now so I'm waiting until they get themselves all sorted out first so I don't get stuck in any catch-22s.)

  At the beginning of this year I was finally forced by the government to update to a photo health card, so at least I have one thing with a current photo.  The down side is that the new card shows my full legal name with male middle name instead of just an initial prior, and also gender marker which it didn't have before either.  My driver's license has my old picture and male marker, and any other piece of ID still shows a male gender marker.  This basically means that after dragging my feet for a long time not wanting to get a passport with my old identity, now I have no choice.  I present convincingly female but all my IDs say male and I also have not had genital surgery.  (It kinda sucks that I have to go through the hassle and cost of getting a passport I may only use once before having to reapply from scratch to change it, but I wouldn't give up the chance to visit Australia for the first time.)

  Since I've developed obvious breasts and had facial feminization surgery I can't exactly dress like a guy just for the sake of airport security screening and expect it to go smoothly.  Nor would I want to now that I've been living full-time female for over a year.  Most of my concern for this trip stems from the potential for problems with airport security screenings in Canada, Australia, and possibly the USA if there is a connecting flight.  I haven't traveled out of Canada since before I started transition, so I've never had to deal with this kind of situation before and I'm kinda scared.  Hopefully I also don't have to worry about bathroom usage laws depending on the particular US state I might pass through.  Do I need to bring documentation from my doctor about my status and medications?  Are there any policy papers I should print off and bring with me for reference?

  The other part of this topic is staying safe while in Australia.  How much do I have to be concerned as a tourist walking around in public?  Is there anywhere I need to steer clear of?  I may end up going a number of places because the trip would last two weeks, so it's hard for me to be more specific other than I'd be focusing on major cities on the east coast probably.  Are there any problematic rules/laws/social conventions I need to worry about?  Is the Australian public particularly sensitive when it comes to clocking trans people?  How do they react?  It helps that I've already got a few established contacts in Australia so at least I've got somewhere to turn if I run into trouble.

  Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

[AnonyMs]

I live in Sydney and travel a bit. I've always found customs at the airport polite. I present male and the scanners have picked up my breasts. The guy kept asking if I was wearing anything around my neck, which of course I wasn't, and I ended up getting a pat down. I think he realised at that point and just let me through. Not sure it's ever been an issue after that; it makes me wonder if there some flag on me somewhere.

I've even lost my passport once on a flight and they didn't give me too much trouble getting back in. I doubt you'll have any problems as long as they can identify you.

Whatever you do don't bring any fruit or food though customs without declaring it. They are really serious about that and X-ray your bags on entry.

[rosinstraya]

In the central areas of the major cities you should be fine most of the time. The usual "rules" about pubs, bars and late night travel should be observed as anywhere else.

Outside of the cities I cannot really say as I've only gone outside of Sydney on work business since transition.

I think a lot, if not most people, are just intent on getting on with their life most of the time, so generally there's not a lot of notice taken of people they don't know. The odd hater /weirdo can still appear, like a turd on the pavement from time to time!

In your situation, as a foreign national, it would probably be worth having some explanatory doctor's letter on you for customs' purposes.