Life just got safer for transitioning transsexuals
With the announcement today that the US State Department will be issuing passports to pre-op transsexuals in their target gender', one more potential safety hazard has been removed for people "in transition".
It is also possible to obtain a limited-validity passport if the physician’s statement shows the applicant is in the process of gender transition. No additional medical records are required. Sexual reassignment surgery is no longer a prerequisite for passport issuance.
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The new policy and procedures are based on standards and recommendations of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), recognized by the American Medical Association as the authority in this field.
Your papers, please!
Effective June 12th 2010, instead of fearing those words, people in transition will be able to fall back on them. This is quite a reversal. Passports are almost universally recognized as a 'gold standard' for identifying someone, so people in transition should be able to use their passports to update their gender markers on most of their other government-issue and private identification.
Recognition that it's what's between the ears that counts
This also means that the government officially recognizes that who you are is not as simple as a quick peek between the legs.
This will no doubt upset those on both extremes - those who believe that your birth sex is all that counts, and those who believe that you should only be accorded recognition in your target gender after all surgery is completed. For the majority of people in contemporary society, as well as the majority of transpeople, the old simplistic view doesn't make sense.
Not politics as usual
President Obama and the democratic party have come under a lot of fire over the delays with DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell - LGBT military service) and ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act), but this is something that the administration could do fairly quickly, without having to get bogged down in partisan politics.
Allowing transsexuals to change their gender marker during transition is more than a gesture of good faith - it will save transitioning transsexuals much embarrassment and discrimination, and may save a few lives.
June is Pride Month. Only 1/3 of the way through, and there's already concrete proof that the declaration is not just a political sop. I can't help wondering if there are any more 'presents under the Christmas tree'.
