Beatrice,

You did not have SRS?  But yet you could change your gender marker?

Quote from: Ms. OBrien on November 26, 2012, 01:11:33 PM
Beatrice,

You did not have SRS?  But yet you could change your gender marker?

Correct, in three recently decided cases (July, August, September 2012) in different courts in Switzerland, the female gender marker was granted to a MTF who had not (yet) undergone SRS. All prior cases were not successful with one exception (decided in 2011, first filed in 2007). I didn't make a big deal of that fact in my transition story, so you found the proverbial needle in the haystack as you read through my posts. This accomplishment of changing gender marker without SRS in Switzerland takes pressure off rushing bottom surgery and it's good news for those of us who never want to do that anyway.

As this acquiescence to our demands is not automatic yet and requires a a lengthy argument, and if it's deemed helpful to others, I may file part of what I submitted to the courts. It is written in German. I'll wait first to see whether there really is demand for this information on a site like this, and who would like to see this.

Hugs,
Beatrice

Wow Beatrice, what an interesting story.

You seem like a driven person and a smart businesswoman who plans meticulously and knows how to get things done, most of all, a positive role model in our community, someone that young and late transitioners can look up to.

Congratulations on all your successes so far and best wishes for all your endeavors!

If you ever need help figuring things out on the interior design front, I'm an architect and will be glad to talk about things related to design.

Hugs and take care!

Quote from: monica.soto on November 26, 2012, 01:54:58 PM
Wow Beatrice, what an interesting story.

You seem like a driven person and a smart businesswoman who plans meticulously and knows how to get things done, most of all, a positive role model in our community, someone that young and late transitioners can look up to.

Congratulations on all your successes so far and best wishes for all your endeavors!

If you ever need help figuring things out on the interior design front, I'm an architect and will be glad to talk about things related to design.

Hugs and take care!

Thanks Monica, I think the same of you! Regarding design, I have a collection of photos I like on houzz.com: http://www.houzz.com/pro/belavidorico/
To be clear, these are not my creations, these are photos of others I have favorited. I maintain another 20'000+ interior design photos on my laptop very much like my programmer friends who maintain code fragments on their PCs so they can use them when needed. I have so far designed nine interiors and lived in all of them, and still have five of them (some are rented). I also designed a few for my friends, though they've been less encompassing, as I worked with what they had for the most part.

Usually I pick a theme. That helps the decision process:
- my first was a house designed near Zurich from 1991-1994 with the colors of my girlfriend at the time, e.g. blond, red, black, white, and chrome, so that was the theme. It's like I was wrapping myself up in her. She was a smart woman and we were a bit into fetish. The place has been timeless, it does not look cold and has held up well without a change since then. It's rented out.
- Then I tweaked a condo in San Francisco. It had a nautical theme, eg. round corners, white furniture mixed with dark mahogany, as it overlooked the bay and was in an art deco building. It was sold in 1998.
- Followed by another condo in San Francisco. I think of it as a treasure chest, e.g. it has guilded elements and golden upholstered silk walls and other precious attributes. The idea is that you feel cradled like a gem inside. It has a full-on view of the bay bridge. It's rented out. No change since it was built, it's held up well and still feels luxurious.
- followed by another condo in San Francisco. This was a luxury yacht in theme, with large chrome frames around the window that reflected light, and portholes between rooms for improved lateral light. The floor was brazilian cherry which looked like mahogany. Furniture was white. A fabuluous place with a view of the bay. I sold it.
- I then moved back to Zurich into a condo downtown that lies on a river, next to the lake. I gave it a theme of a tug boat, e.g. less luxurious and elegant than the "yacht" above, and more a feeling of "sturdy, unsinkable, and cozy". Again it's held up well and is rented out.
- Then my new girlfriend and I moved into her place and renovated that in 2007. We gave it a theme of "grown up", e.g. if there's Ikea in it, you'd never know it. Colors are fuchsia and yellow and brown. It's a bourgeois city apartment with high ceilings and chandeliers but by no means over-the-top. We love it and it cradles us when we're in the city. I should mention it has a boudoir-like walk-in closet akin to Carry's in sex-and-the-city
- Now we live most of the time in a home on the shore of lake Zurich, about 20 minutes towards the Alps from Zurich. This was a tear-down and rebuild. It's built like a yacht (again) because it's on the lake. This time, the yacht is clearly docked, eg. its long side stretches along the shore, opening up its entire side to the lake for a 180 degree view. This yacht has traveled around the world, collecting things from all the places I've been to, and now it's anchored to stay. It has mahogany-like cherry hardwood floor with white thin maple strips which make the floor look like ship planks. Furniture is mostly oversized and american-made which raised a few eyebrows here in austere Switzerland, but people love it and when we have dinner guests, they don't want to get out of their wing chairs as they're so comfortably plunked down.

Realizing this is just text without photos, it requires imagination to visualize these interiors. Or you come visit From May 24-26 2013 would be a good time, if you're interested I can tell you more, as other professional TG people will be gathering here in Zurich for socializing.

Hugs,
Beatrice

Hi Beatrice,

I cycled though all your Interior design reference pics and I love them! Your taste in styles, textures and colors, is very varied but it is all so classy and chic!

I personally imagined your tastes would be more "swiss"  , but after reading the description on your decoration projects and seeing your reference pictures, it does not surprise me at all.

How gracious of you for the invitation, of course I would love to see your home and meet and greet women like ourselves, but realistically I'm not quite there with my transition and I still have a few things to sort out in my personal and professional life that I feel inhibit me from traveling to beautiful Switzerland at such a date.

I do hope that we will be able to continue exchanging messages on this board (and in the future emails!) you seem like such an interesting person and your life experience is so inspiring that I would love to know more about you and hopefully establish a friendship.

Hugs,

Monica

Quote from: monica.soto on November 27, 2012, 09:30:18 AM
Hi Beatrice,

I cycled though all your Interior design reference pics and I love them! Your taste in styles, textures and colors, is very varied but it is all so classy and chic!

I personally imagined your tastes would be more "swiss"  , but after reading the description on your decoration projects and seeing your reference pictures, it does not surprise me at all.

How gracious of you for the invitation, of course I would love to see your home and meet and greet women like ourselves, but realistically I'm not quite there with my transition and I still have a few things to sort out in my personal and professional life that I feel inhibit me from traveling to beautiful Switzerland at such a date.

I do hope that we will be able to continue exchanging messages on this board (and in the future emails!) you seem like such an interesting person and your life experience is so inspiring that I would love to know more about you and hopefully establish a friendship.

Hugs,

Monica

Hi Monica, seems like we're establishing friendship fast! I'll take this offline to email and until I get to that, I'm sending you a quick hug in public.

Beatrice

Quote from: Ms. OBrien on November 26, 2012, 01:11:33 PM
Beatrice,

You did not have SRS?  But yet you could change your gender marker?

Hi Janet,

I thought what the heck, I might as well post my submission to the courts. Here it goes. It's translated from German. My comments are in <>.


Dear Court,

I request a change of gender marker from "M" to "F". I refer to my telephone conversation with the court and Article 7 para 2 lit. o ZStV regarding sex change, determination of gender. I am unmarried.

<I recommend calling the court before starting the process. Having a lawyer in the background is helpful, and keeping that lawyer in the background, and not in the foreground, may actually simplify dealings with the court and lower your overall bill; if the court is well-natured, they'll let you know if they're likely to turn down your request and at that point you could still bring out the big guns>

My appearance is that of a woman. I have feminized my personal appearance with irreversible steps such as hormone therapy with breast growth and fat redistribution, laser therapy for beard removal and surgical facial feminization (FFS).

My FFS is a visible expression of my will to permanently live in my female gender. My transition to a life as a woman is widely communicated and implemented.

<I write this because courts are often concerned with the question whether this is a whim or a long-term decision>

Since my FFS in April 2012 I'm making the constant experience of being addressed as a woman. However, as my gender marker is still "M", I face a variety of problems. I will mention two examples:
- Bank accounts, insurance policies, official shareholder registers by the state: These institutions have accepted my name change for correspondence purposes but they won't change their master data until they are furnished an official decree. This creates a variety of problems as correspondence and master data are not in alignment.
- Business travel: I travel professionally in Europe, the US, and Asia. As the gender marker in my passport does not match my visual presentation, I cannot, for example, travel to an important conference in Abu Dhabi without risking imprisonment (see Wikipedia entries on applicable law in that country).

<some practical examples help illustrate the need for gender marker change as our daily trials and tribulations are not familiar to the courts>

My therapists have submitted reports in of support my application for change of the gender marker. These reports explicitly support the change of my gender marker prior to any SRS.

<OK, at that point, the official request is done. What now ensues is a pre-emptive debate of law: Is SRS and sterilization tenable as a pre-condition to change of gender marker?>

The Federal Office of Civil Status EAZW issued new guidelines on 1 February 2012 and dropped the requirement of SRS prior to change of the gender marker:

<I omit the quote from their guideline as it's a bunch of legalese that's hard to translate and is essentially repeated in arguments below>

The judicial practice in Canton Zurich and Canton of Berne in the years 2011/2012 shows that SRS is not compulsory for those seeking to change the gender marker (Decision Regional Court Bern-Mittelland GP Falkner from 27.07.2012; ruling Regional Court Bernese Jura Zealand GP Horisberger iS W. from 26.06.2012). The following quotes are from the judgment of the Zurich Court, Civil Division II from 1 February 2011 case NC090012 / U (see attached):

<Citing precedents help courts as few court want to be first in breaking rank>

"3.3. The surgical procedure is described in the literature as problematic. There are health risks. The external adjustment to the appearance of the opposite sex could be achieved via hormonal treatments and aesthetic measures instead. A sex change is considered successful if the person is making the constant experience of having arrived at the desired sex and if this is recognized in daily interactions with other people.
(see FamPra 2/2007 page 371 with reference to the opinion the German Society for Sex Research: Becker et al, Journal of Sex Research, 2001, 258 ff, where surgery on the outer
genitalia as a condition for change of civil status is deemed untenable."

<above quote has been liberally translated from German to English, some passages have been left out>

"3.4. Also for legal reasons, requiring surgery as a pre-condition for the change of civil status is problematic. This would violate the physical integrity of the person concerned.
The right to respect for private life (Article 13, Constitution) includes, among others, also the right to self-determination in matters of sexuality, including the desire for sex change (see Biaggini comment BV, Art 13 N5). If the court demanded a surgical procedure as an essential pre-condition, this would require a legal basis which does not exist in Switzerland (Häfelin / Haller / Keller, Switzerland. Federal Constitutional Law, 7th edition, N 307 et seq.) We therefore direct our attention towards the decision of the
German Federal Constitutional Court of 11 January 2011 (1 BvR3295/07), in which the requirement of the surgical procedure for the recognition of civil status of sex change is considered in violation of the fundamental law. "

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health explains in its latest guidelines "WPATH 7" that SRS ought to be well researched (page 63): " Genital surgical procedures for the MtF patient may include orchiectomy, penectomy, vaginoplasty, clitoroplasty, and labiaplasty. Techniques include penile skin inversion, pedicled colosigmoid transplant, and free skin grafts to line the neovagina. Sexual sensation is an important objective in vaginoplasty, along with creation of a functional vagina and acceptable cosmesis.

Surgical complications of MtF genital surgery may include complete or partial necrosis of the vagina and labia, fistulas from the bladder or bowel into the vagina, stenosis of the urethra, and vaginas that are either too short or too small for coitus. While the surgical techniques for creating a neovagina are functionally and aesthetically excellent, anorgasmia following the procedure has been reported, and a second stage labiaplasty may be needed for cosmesis (Klein & Gorzalka, 2009; Lawrence, 2006)."

According to WPATH 7 SRS is not equally important for all patients: "[...] many transsexual [...] individuals find comfort with their gender identity, role, and expression without [gender reassignment] surgery" (Excerpt from Chapter XI , page 54).

The newspaper "XX" briefly discussed my case.  In the article, complications suffered by another well-known transsexual individual XX were recounted. So it is well-known to the general public that SRS is a delicate operation and may result in severe complications.

In sum, presupposing SRS would be in contradiction to the latest medical and legal doctrine and newest legal practice. As the person affected by such an operation, I should be given time to contemplate and research it. Given the risks, this period of research may take several years as I would educate myself, interview patients and doctors, and possibly be placed on a wait list for the best-suited surgeon. My already-public identification as a woman would continue to be in conflict with my gender marker for a long time. This would be untenable, even cruel.

This leaves the question of fertility, a matter which used to be important to courts in the past. A physical measure of ensuring infertility would violate body integrity again. It also would go against the new guidelines of EAZW conflict as well as the new judicial practice (Kt.Bern). Furthermore, such a measure is unnecessary because the administration of anti-androgens also produces infertility. This was recognized in the judgment of the Zurich Court, Civil Chamber II on 1 February 2011 in the above case assumed NC090012 / U.

My therapy with anti-androgenic hormones began in November 2011. Since the intake of estrogen (estradiol) in April 2012, I've been infertile. This was shown by a test conducted at that time which could be repeated at any time. Since I plan on continuing to take hormones, I will continue to remain sterile. This justifies the assumption of infertility in my case. My hormone levels are included in the supporting documents and show clearly female levels.

I summarize that the following basic rights would be infringed by a demand of prior SRS for change of gender marker for a transgender person with the appropriate diagnosis: first and foremost the right formulated by doctrine and jurisprudence "to own gender identity and way of life because of perceived individual gender". Are also affected would be the right to physical and mental integrity (Article 10 paragraph 2 of the Constitution) and the right to privacy (article 13 section 1 BV). Further, there is the protection of fundamental rights of trans people also from the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights) as formulated in the jurisprudence of the ECHR since 2010, and the prohibition of discrimination under Article 14, and from Article 8, the right to respect for private and family life. Furthermore, this protection is supported by international law and the relevant UN conventions.

In closing, I affirm that my interest in a stable gender identity outweighs the public's interest in the immutability of sex markers. I trust that this request for change of gender marker is well founded, that the court recognizes the urgency of the matter, and that all necessary documents supporting a the decision have been provided.

Sincerely,

XX


Enclosures:

- Information to business partners, brief biography and excerpt from company website with my female identity
- Article from "xx" paper
- Medical report Dr. Douglas Ousterhout, Surgeon, San Francisco
- Medical report xx
- Psychotherapeutic finding xx
- Psychotherapeutic finding xx
- Medical confirmation xx, dermatologist FMH, Zurich
- Laboratory values for estrogen and testosterone
- Judgment of the Zurich Court, Civil Division II from 1 February 2011, NC090012 / U
- Legal Advice from the EAZW of 1 February 2012 concerning transsexualism
- Confirmation of name change with the Department of the Interior of the Canton of xx

Ah.  I see that some changes were made the excludes SRS.  I changed my gender maker with the state DMV and the Social Security Administration.  The SSA was done by the fact my orchidectomy was "irreversible gentile surgery."

Now I just have to do my b/c.

Quote from: Ms. OBrien on November 27, 2012, 11:44:23 AM
Ah.  I see that some changes were made the excludes SRS.  I changed my gender maker with the state DMV and the Social Security Administration.  The SSA was done by the fact my orchidectomy was "irreversible gentile surgery."

Now I just have to do my b/c.

Hi Janet, the changes in law you're gleaning from my submission are more brittle than might appear, otherwise the submission would just be a one-pager. The judgement in Zurich was from a person who had been living for 20 years in the other gender before gathering the courage to ask for an official change of gender marker. Also, that case spent roughly 4 years in court before being finally decided! The cases from Bern and Biel came in at the last minute as my submission was already written, so I included it, but did not base the case on it. Rather, I made the argument that SRS is delicate, may lead to complications, and thus is not a physical change the court may just order you to undertake at its request -- doing so would violate your body integrity. Instead, it's your perceived gender that matters. I cite legal research into this matter, and argue that it would be cruel to make one carry the old gender marker in the (sometimes lengthy) interval until SRS is undertaken.

One additional argument, not used above, is one of symmetry of law (or discrimination): in the case of FTM, courts cannot demand what is physically difficult to achieve: a functioning penis reconstruction. There are some who achieve that, but it's not the norm. Hence FTM are often granted a change of gender marker without bottom surgery, as long as they outwardly appear male. Thus it would be unfair placing the analogous bottom surgery requirement on MTF who outwardly appear female. MTF should not be required to obtain what FTM are medically excused from.

Welcome to Susan's, Beatrice. Congratulations on transitioning.