Hi y'all

I won a small battle against Bureaucracy today when my female gender passport arrived by courier!  As a UK national living in Spain, there are many times, weekly, when I need to show a photo ID to pay even small sums by credit card. And my last ID was of a very uuuuugly boy who I used to know 

So now he's gone and it's just me left standing.  It was a little battle, because the UK Passport Office gave me bad, actually totally wrong, advice the first time I came to the UK to fix my passport, and I was really not sure that flying in for Round 2 of Julia vs Her Majesty's Government was going to come off in my favour.  (I had to do this change in the UK, as we have to hand in any old passport before they will issue a replacement, grrr!)

When I entered the UK last week, the kind lady at passport control said to me "Oh, it appears that you've got your husband's passport - is he coming along soon?"  To which I replied "Hopefully in a couple of years or so," before I explained who the ugly guy was... 

I'll kind-of miss those interchanges which gave rise to some interesting chats, but I won't miss them that much

Now to change the rest of my documents...more girl on the way!

xxx
J

I an very happy for you. Your are a beautiful woman and need the accompanying documentation.

Congrats each step to equality.

Congrats

Coincidentally I received this E-MAIL notification this morning:

QuoteWe have finished processing your passport, and it has been mailed to you.

Your passport application locator number is xxxxxxxxx.

You requested delivery by regular mail. Passport Agencies use Priority Mail. This means you should receive your passport on or about 10/27/2014.

Wooo!

And I'm heading to the Post Office to get mine done on Friday using a DS-11 along with an ID photo that will be taken at the post office (given when I got my only passport before this as a minor, they refused to accept the photo I took at a local CVS as it "didn't fit standards"...I know the PO will do it right, so, I'm avoiding that potential problem this time!), given I'm planning on visiting Norway on the cheap in 3 months.  Had to run to my endocrinologist twice actually to get the letter--I could tell the first one didn't meet standards as he forgot the "penalty of perjury" statement along with a notice that he has an NJ medical license.  Mind you, he's in NJ and I'm currently living in LI.  At least I was able to make an excuse to run back down there again as my mom is on that side of the Hudson, but blegh...hope it goes as easy as my license was; that was surprisingly easy and they didn't even bat an eye at the DMV, with an appointment I was out of there in 12 minutes!

I'm really hoping that I will be able to get a passport as a female in the first place, without having to jump through doctors letter hoops.  I've never had one before.  Depends on whether we can get some legislation passed to streamline the birth cert gender marker change process here in Nevada before I need one.

Congratulations, though, on eliminating one more conversation piece from your life. 

Congratulations!!

Quote from: JessieBirdie on October 22, 2014, 11:17:42 PM
Wooo!

And I'm heading to the Post Office to get mine done on Friday using a DS-11 along with an ID photo that will be taken at the post office (given when I got my only passport before this as a minor, they refused to accept the photo I took at a local CVS as it "didn't fit standards"...I know the PO will do it right, so, I'm avoiding that potential problem this time!), given I'm planning on visiting Norway on the cheap in 3 months.  Had to run to my endocrinologist twice actually to get the letter--I could tell the first one didn't meet standards as he forgot the "penalty of perjury" statement along with a notice that he has an NJ medical license.  Mind you, he's in NJ and I'm currently living in LI.  At least I was able to make an excuse to run back down there again as my mom is on that side of the Hudson, but blegh...hope it goes as easy as my license was; that was surprisingly easy and they didn't even bat an eye at the DMV, with an appointment I was out of there in 12 minutes!

I would print out this document from the State Departments website (http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/143160.pdf) and bring it with you. I went to the Passport Agency in Clifton, NJ (all they do is passports) and the woman was trying to tell me that I need to use a DS-82 and not a DS-11. (I already had a DS-11 filled out.) I told her because of the gender change a DS-11 was needed. She still insisted on the DS-82. I gave her a printout from the website and she read it over. She said I was right and that no one told her about it. She felt bad because someone else a few weeks prior she had told the wrong information and that their passport application would probably returned. She asked if she could keep the printout to post in the office. She was nice and professional about he whole thing and I was still in and out in 10 minutes and there was only one other person there.

Congrats Julia!

Thanks for the info Sydney_NYC - I'm about to have to tackle this deal very soon.

And Julia - congrats on working you way through the red tape!

Well done - now breath a big sigh of relief and start using that passport to travel!

Congratulations Julia, I know this has been a bit of work for you, but so happy for you now it's in your hot little hands, mwah mwah

Thanks everyone!

In many places, as you dig, you discover how many holes and inconsistencies there are, as well as total ignorance of our processes and needs.

For example, in the UK, one of the ways of getting a passport change is to supply  "...a letter from your doctor or medical consultant confirming that your change of gender is likely to be permanent...", even if no SRS is planned.   Yes fine, but on closer verification this does not include psychologists.  Howeverm if you want SRS, the WPATH guidelines request letters from 2 psychologists. 

Then, in Spain, I cannot get a documental gender change until I've been on HRT for 2 years, and supposedly the UK recognises that, if I'm being treated in Spain, Spanish law has primacy, except as you can see I got my UK passport after 6 months.  Although that doesn't necessarily mean that my gender change is recognised in all legal senses in the UK. 

As a collective, we've got a long way to go to get a coherent way of governments recognising and harmonising how we are treated.

Hugs to you all, and good luck with your own little battles against the bureaucracy.

Julia

Congratulations!

Mine just came in the mail today  Nice to see that beautiful "F" on it with my correct name

Congratulations Julia!!!

Thanks Kate and friends.  A small step, and I confess I took it out a few times to admire the "F".   

Welcome to the club Julia, now the world is your playzone. Have a great time  using your new freshly minted key to the world

Thanks Erica... It was cool to have a boring zip through passport control yesterday, like it used to be

I remember changing my passport. Here you can do it in a post office that has a passport licence thingy. The woman dealing with me went through the application and clarified a few things, I had told her it was because I had changed my name (she missed changing my gender marker bit) when it came to the point of handing in my old passport she gave the talk that 'When I remove the verification strip you cannot use this passport again, do you agree to this' I said yes. She then opened it, saw the picture of 'him' and quickly checked the gender marker and said. 'There is no way you could use this passport anyway is there' Gave me a big smile and said congratulations.