New Mexico Making Driver's License Gender Change Easier

Transpeople living in New Mexico have cheered the recent move by the state's Motor Vehicle Division to make it easier to change the gender code on their drivers licenses.

In July the New Mexico Motor Vehicles Division not only established a new form to help facilitate changing a person’s gender designation on a drivers license, they also clarified MVD policy that gender surgery is not a requirement for a person seeking to change their gender.

All that is required in the Land of Enchantment is the signature of a medical provider or clinician stating their opinion that the person will not change their gender again in the foreseeable future.

The MVD's new procedure was considered necessary because the MVD has seen a gradual increase in the number of transgender people requesting the change, but there has been no consistency across offices about how to handle the request.

“It made sense to standardize the process so there are clear directions for our staff on how to handle these requests,” said Alicia Ortiz, deputy director of the MVD.

As I and other people throughout the transosphere have pointed out, mismatched gender codes on our IDs open us up to travel difficulties, potential discrimination and violence if we're outed as trans in the wrong situations.

The US State Department recently announced a similar policy change for passports, so it's nice to see that various states are now following through with similar changes.

Kudos to the state of New Mexico for doing so.

US Passport Fees Increasing

It figures that just as we get a significant change in policy that benefits us in terms of being able to have a passport with proper gender markers, the fees are going up on July 13.

A new passport after that date will cost $135 instead of the $100 current price. If you need to renew your passport, that fee is increasing from $75 to $110.
Adding visa pages for you jetsetting and frequent international travelers will now cost you $82 to do so.

To see the complete list of consular service fees that are increasing, click on this link that will take you to the US State Department website.

Upcoming Trans ID Protest In Quebec

TransGriot Note: Thanks to reader Matt McLauchlin, was made aware of a June 17 rally taking place place in Montreal protesting Quebec's restrictive rules on legal changes of name and gender.

More info about the rally from the coalition's Facebook page.

***

Thursday, June 17, 2010
3:30 PM - 6:00 PM EDT
devant le Directeur de l'État Civil
2050, rue De Bleury
Montreal, QC


Down with STERILE civil status rules!
Trans people demand their citizenship

Today in Québec, trans-identified, or trans, people do not enjoy the same civil status rights as other citizens. Trans people are subjected to long, complex, restrictive, and not universally accessible regulations. Their right to equality and physical integrity is not respected, since they must undergo compulsory sterilization in order to obtain the right to have their designation of sex legally changed in civil status documents.

Moreover, because of these situations, many trans people are forced to wait long periods of time with official identity papers (civil status documents) that do not reflect their actual identity. This can lead to endless discrimination when looking for work or housing, seeking health care, opening a bank account, etc.

Some examples of the consequences these regulations have:

• Trans people who want to change the designation of sex on their birth certificate are required to undergo “medical treatments and surgical operations involving a structural modification of sexual organs intended to change [their] sexual characteristics” – in other words, sterilization. Even though the Director of Civil Status does not explicitly require trans people to be sterile in order to change their designation of sex, these conditions necessarily involve forced sterilization of trans people.

• Trans people who want to change their name in under five years must obtain a psychiatric diagnosis of gender identity disorder and begin medical procedures to change their sexual characteristics. Trans people who do not want to undergo medical procedures must live an additional five years under the name assigned at birth.

• Trans people who are unwilling or (because of financial, health, or other issues) unable to undergo these physical modifications have a civil identity that does not concord with their real identity.

• Trans people who are not Canadian citizens are also condemned to a situation where the identity listed on their civil status documents do not reflect their real identity. Article 71 of the Québec Civil Code requires Canadian citizenship, among other conditions, for a legal change of name or sex designation. Obtaining Canadian citizenship can take years.

• Trans people who have children before changing their sex designation cannot change the gender they are assigned on their children’s birth certificate. For example, Nicole may be Nicolas’s mother, but she will still be listed as “father” on his birth certificate. This rule is a leftover from legal homophobia, reflecting the fact that until recently, children could not have two parents of the same gender. Now that same-gender parents are accepted, trans people should be able to change the term listed on their children’s birth certificates.

Current regulations harm not only transsexual persons, but many others, such as transgender, intersex, bi-gender, and genderqueer people, as well as their children. They threaten the equality of all Quebecers under the law.

The Supreme Court has objected to sterilization for non-therapeutic purposes. Law professor Marie-France Bureau says: “In both Québec and Canada, non-therapeutic sterilization of persons suffering from mental illness is not permitted. The courts have ruled that it is contrary to fundamental rights. […] We can therefore ask how it is that sterilization is, for a person unable to give informed consent, a violation of fundamental rights, while for a trans person who has full legal capacity and is able to give informed consent, it is a requirement.”

Other legal models are possible and in some cases are already being used in Canada. In the other provinces, for example, laws concerning legal change of name are very different, allowing change of name without the various requirements of Québec law.

For these reasons, the undersigned call on the Director of Civil Status, legislators, and the relevant government bodies to immediately undertake reforms to end these discriminatory policies. In particular, we call for the following:

• Access to legal change of name without excessive delay, similar to the regulations in force in all other Canadian provinces.

• Access to legal change of sex designation without compulsory medical treatments (operations or hormone therapy), based on the recommendation of a professional (a list of professionals can be drawn up in consultation with the concerned communities), following the example of Spain and the United Kingdom.

• Access to legal change of name and sex designation for non-citizens of Canada who have lived in Québec for one year.

• Access to legal change of trans people’s sex as designated on the birth certificate of children born to them before transition.

• A clear description, published on the website of the Director of Civil Status of Québec, of the procedures for legal change of name and sex designation for trans-identified people.

We are open to meeting with the Director of Civil Status as soon as possible. Today’s action aims to shed light on the discrimination suffered by trans people in connection with civil status, and is part of a wide range of demands in the fight against transphobia.

Sample Letter For US Passport Gender Change

New State Department regulations took effect yesterday that no longer require gender reassignment surgery as a prerequisite to have accurate gender markers on your United States passport.

The new policy was implemented because Trans Americans face extreme danger when traveling abroad in the many countries that are hostile to them. Many also experience harassment when entering and leaving the United States and several other countries.

So without further ado, here are two examples of the letter you'll need to submit for your corrected passport gender marker.


Attending Physician’s Letterhead
(Physician’s Address and Telephone Number)

I, (physician’s full name), (physician’s medical license or certificate number), (issuing State of medical license/certificate), (DEA Registration number), am the attending physician of (name of patient), with whom I have a doctor/patient relationship. (The letter must indicate that the physician is either an internist, endocrinologist, gynecologist, urologist or psychiatrist.)

(Name of patient) has had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition to the new gender (specify new gender male or female).

Or you can use this format:

(Name of patient) is in the process of gender transition to the new gender (specify new gender male or female).
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that the forgoing is true and correct.

Signature of Physician

Typed Name of Physician

Date