Australia Makes It Easier For Gender Diverse Peeps To Get Passports

Identity document issues are a problem for transpeople all over the world, and there is great news coming from Down Under concerning theirs.. 

In line with an Australian government initiative to remove discrimination issues on the grounds of sex. sexual orientation and gender identity, the Australian Passport Office is no longer requiring genital surgery as a prerequisite for issuing a passport in a new gender..

Birth or citizenship certificates do not need to be amended in order to receive that passport in their preferred gender..

According to the Australian Passport Office website:
  A letter from a medical practitioner certifying that the person has had, or is receiving, appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition to a new gender, or that they are intersex and do not identify with the sex assigned to them at birth, is acceptable.

The letter will only be accepted from practitioners registered with the Medical Board of Australia (or equivalent overseas authority). ‘Appropriate clinical treatment’ does not have to be specified.


A full validity passport in a new sex may also be issued to applicants who have undergone sex reassignment surgery and have registered their change of sex with Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages (RBDM) or the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

A passport may be issued to sex and gender diverse applicants in M (male), F (female) or X (indeterminate/unspecified/intersex).

There had been a 20 year policy in place at the Department of Foreign Affairs allowing transsexuals to have their preferred gender listed on a 12 month passport if they were traveling overseas for sex-change surgery which was replaced with a 10 year one after SRS.   That policy was overturned in 2007 by the Howard government and was reinstated in 2009 after an incident involving Stefanie Imbruglia, the trans cousin of pop star Natalie Imbruglia.

Stefanie not only was disrespected and issued a passport with an "M'  in the gender code, when she arrived in Thailand for her surgery the passport control officer there embarrassingly asked Stefanie in front of other passengers to account for why there was a discrepancy between her passport and her appearance. 

After completing her surgery Imbruglia took the Department of Foreign Affairs before the Australian Human Rights Commission, arguing that it had not only discriminated against her, but put her life in danger by refusing to give her a passport that reflected her identity.   The department issued a written apology to Imbruglia in addition to reinstating the old policy..

“This measure will extend the same freedoms to sex and gender diverse Australians. While it’s expected this change will only affect a handful of Australians, it’s an important step in removing discrimination for sex and gender diverse people," said Attorney General Robert McClellan

The Australian groups who have been fighting for the policy changes on behalf of  the gender diverse community there hailed it and agreed with the AG's sentiments.

Congrats to my friends Down Under for their major victory in achieving this policy change.

Argentina's Gender Identity Law Being Debated Tomorrow

When same gender marriage was passed last year in Argentina, the GL groups there in the wake of their happiness over its passage and being signed into law July 21 by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner uttered a bitterly familiar phrase to the transpeople left behind legislatively.

We've heard it said over and over in the United States and Canada but have seen them fail repeatedly to live up to it:  We'll come back for you.

Looks like the Argentine GL groups meant what they said.   

There is not only a push to get Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner reelected to another term in the upcoming October 23 election, they are pushing a Gender Identity Law on behalf of the trans community.

The Argentine Congress will begin debate tomorrow on a proposed gender identity law that if passed, would allow anyone to correct his or her name, gender and image registration in all public records through a quick and simple procedure.   

The current policy in Argentina is for trans people who wish to have government ID that reflects their name and gender presentation to get the changes to them done via a judge's ruling.   While our transpeople do occasionally win these court hearings, it can be a lengthy, costly and frustrating process if they have to appeal adverse rulings.

Because they have been trying since 2007 to get this bill through Congress and it keeps getting stuck in the Argentine Senate, in advance of tomorrow's upcoming debate,  FALGBT, the Argentinian Federation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans people and the ATTTA (Asociación de Travestis, Transexuales y Transgéneros de Argentina) launched an informational campaign entitled 'Identitad:  Direcho de ser.'  (Identity: The Right to Be in English)  complete with this video.



Best of luck to our trans brothers and sisters in Argentina and hope I have positive news to report soon from our South American trans cousins 


H/T xQSi Magazine  

Here We Go Again-Transwoman Denied Entry At Dubai Airport

We've had increasing documentation of incidents in which transpeople have been denied entry at world airports in various nations or are harassed by customs officials when they do.

It was one of the reasons why the US State Department changed its policy last summer and allowed transpeople to acquire passports that have gender markers consistent with current gender presentation rather than being based on birth gender.


It was also one of the reasons international trans people became alarmed when the new Thai start up airline PC Air announced with the hiring of of several trans flight attendants that they were going to have them wear specialized gold colored ID that outed them to customers and custom officials.

PinayTG chronicles another story of a transperson who unexpectedly found herself being harassed and denied entry into Dubai due to mismatched ID.

All Jen Janice wanted to do before heading back to the Netherlands after a business trip to Kuwait was take a few days to visit friends in the UAE.    That side trip was one that opened her up to discrimination and disrespect..

Post Op Transpeople Denied Entry Into Egypt

One of the things that is a common problem for transpeople no matter where we reside on this planet is our identity documents.   Far too many national governments instead of making the process as drama free as possible, throw up roadblocks to doing so.

That inability to have identity documents that match our gender presentation can cause complications in our lives and open us up to embarrassment, discrimination or transphobic harassment.  

When we have to travel internationally, passports or ID's that don't match the current gender presentation can subject us to denial of entry into the country we wish to visit, harassment or worse by customs officials.

Transpinays and other Asian transwomen are reporting that when they travel to Hong Kong, they are being harassed by customs officials there


There was a recent example of what can happen according to an online article on the Al Masryalyoum website .

A post op Arab transwoman and a transman were both recently denied entry into Egypt recently.   They had arrived at the Cairo airport on a flight from Amman, Jordan and the Cairo airport officials noticed a 22 year old transwoman of 'outstanding beauty' disembarking from the arriving international flight.

When she presented her passport, it still had her old male birth name in it.  She told customs officials that she had undergone GRS six weeks before but hadn’t been able to modify her passport data.

On the same flight was a 19-year-old transman holding a passport with his old female birth name and because of the same problem.   He'd undergone surgery and also wasn’t able to update his passport in time for his trip.

Both passengers stories checked out, but they were denied entry into Egypt and sent back to Jordan

This situation is one reason why the US State Department made the decision they did last summer to allow transpeople to do gender marker changes on US passports without requiring surgical intervention.