Well Tennessee, Is She A Woman Or Not?

One of the things that pisses off transpeople is the legal and societal double standards based on ignorance hurled at us by everyone we come in contact with from radical feminists to conservafool lawmakers.

Was sent a link to this story unfolding in Tennessee about transwoman Andrea Jones and sighed when I saw that.  Tennessee is the only US state that has a law on the books explicitly preventing people from changing the gender marker on their birth certificates.

I have documented in this blog's electronic pages far too numerous instances of transphobic behavior and outright violence originating in and aimed at transwomen in the Volunteer state.  And when you keep screwing with people, sooner or later they will say 'Enough!" and go straight the hell off.

This latest story starts with Ms. Jones heading to her local drivers license bureau in Morristown, TN to get the gender marker on her drivers license changed from M to F.  The Tennessee Department of Safety rule is that they will change the gender marker on the license “if an applicant presents a doctor’s statement indicating that a full sex change has occurred and the procedure is complete.”   

Problem number one is that 'full sex change' is a little nebulous to begin with.  

Jones presented a statement from her doctor that he had performed an orchiectomy on her (she had her testicles removed) only to be told she needed to have SRS, which it does not state in that regulation.

You can get a gender code change on a US passport without surgery and Social Security paperwork as well, so why should you need a $10-20K surgery to do so for your drivers license?.


She took off her top outside the drivers license office and exposed her breasts in protest and was arrested for indecent exposure.   The police report even referred to her as a man: “Mr. Jones continued to yell that he had the right to show his breasts in public,” it read, “and wanted to be recognized as a female.”

She spent 23 days in jail, lost her job in the process and is now pushing for the state of Tennessee to come up with some clarity on this issue. 

“It’s not right for the state to ask me to be both male and female,” Jones told local TV station WATE 6. “A choice needs to be made. They cannot hold me to both standards
. 
So make up your mind, Tennessee.   If Ms. Jones is a woman as you asserted when you arrested her for indecent exposure, then you need to change the gender marker on her license and birth certificate for her and all transpeople born in the Volunteer state.   

If you're claiming Ms. Jones is a man despite having an orchiectomy, which is gender changing surgery since she doesn't have testicles an, then the arrest for indecent exposure is invalid.

Well Tennessee, the human rights loving part of the world want to know where you stand on this issue. Is she a woman or not?