On another board, someone warned that trans people who had already had their gender marker changed on their IDs -- in particular, passport -- found when they renewed it recently (i.e., after the start of the Trump-Musk regime) that the gender marker had been changed back to their birth sex.
Does anyone know any more about this?
I had assumed that since my name and gender had been changed in all official places there wouldn't be any obvious sign that I was trans, but if someone looked hard enough, I suppose they could tell. My passport expires next year, and I will need it if I ever have to flee the country.
In this thread, an actress had her gender marker changed to 'male' on her passport. She had never updated her birth certificate.
https://www.susans.org/index.php/topic,250249.0.html
If you updated your birth certificate and it does not indicate it has been amended, then I think you will be OK. If you never updated your birth certificate, or if it indicates the gender has been amended, then you may be in for disappointment.
Love always -- Jessica Rose
I think the focus was on markers that showed "X" and applications with a gender marker change included. If you are renewing but not changing the marker, you might be okay. Fingers crossed.
If you changed your birth certificate before you applied for your first passport, you will likely be fine. It would take an unusually deep dive into the archives to find evidence of a change.
But if you never changed your birth certificate, or if you changed it after getting a passport in your old name, there is an easy paper trail. I am pretty sure that is the sort of things the DOGE hackers have been doing: installing backdoors into the databases to find gender changes.
I would hope there would be no revision to issued markers.
Maybe so at renewal time.
Quote from: Jessica_Rose on February 24, 2025, 10:54:03 AMIf you updated your birth certificate and it does not indicate it has been amended, then I think you will be OK. If you never updated your birth certificate, or if it indicates the gender has been amended, then you may be in for disappointment.
As i posted in the thread I started ,there is one other situation that can cause an issue... if you were married "before", the marriage survived, you are retiring and your spouse is claiming spousal Social Security benefits.
That can make the Feds aware of the sex change even if the birth certificate was changed - particularly if the marriage predates legal same sex marriages...
I doubt anyone has had to deal with that yet (it is both an uncommon situation and it's too soon into the trump presidency), but I will need to later this year or early next.
Don't know if there will be any fallout.
- Karen
Quote from: Karen_A on February 24, 2025, 09:37:44 PMparticularly if the marriage predates legal same sex marriages...
I understand your concern, but the legality of the marriage is not an issue. They cannot enforce the law today as it was back then. They must enforce by today's standards and the Supreme Court has already ruled it is legal.
The pamphlet I linked also indicates that because of that Supreme Court decision, benefits will work just like any other married couple. You just need answers about how those benefits will work and they can answer that at the SSA office. You might even be able to call and ask them.
You are doing the right thing by researching now and getting the information that you will need.
As for marriage, consider getting remarried if your state allows it. Susan and I were remarried in Colorado. Their laws allow people who are already married to each other, to remarry without first getting divorced. Susan and I now have two marriages licenses, with the most recent one showing our current names. Technically, Susan is now a polygamist. She has two marriage licenses which indicate she is married to two different people!
Love always -- Jessica Rose
I recently got my very first passport. I wanted it just in case I have to flee this country, which I can sadly say I may have to do.
I've had my gender marker changed everywhere since 2019, including my birth certificate. When I filled out my application I marked female on it, and all of my supporting documentation showed I'm female so I was hopeful that my gender marker would be correct on my passport.
I also paid for expidited service so they would have less time to scrutinize it, and it worked. My new passport and passport card arrived and they both say female on them.
I know this is because of one reason only....and that's because I've never had a passport, and thus my gender marker never changed in their eyes.
I just got mine in January. I hadn't changed my birth certificate so I included the legal name change order from the court. Part of the supporting documents for the name change was a letter from my doctor certifying the change of gender. I, too, opted for expedited service and both card and book came back showing Female.
Once they returned my original documents, I sent them to Pennsylvania to correct my birth certificate. That is still pending. They cashed my check, so I assume the application was not rejected. If the certificate comes back with an indication that it was changed, corrected, or amended in any way, I will never use it. I will use the passport instead. If it does not indicate any change, it will support what my passport shows, so I think it will be ok.