By Patrick DePoy, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:05am
Like many Americans, Asher Schor is excited to vote this coming November. Asher was born and raised in Pittsburgh, works at a public interest law firm, and feels more motivated than ever to participate in the electoral process. But Asher is one of thousands of transgender Americans whose driver’s license and passport do not reflect his or her true gender identity. Asher received his photo ID before his transition and the official sex listed still reads “Female.” He recently joined the ACLU of Pennsylvania’s lawsuit against a new and particularly onerous voter ID law, and I had a chance to discuss how the new law will impact him at the polls this November. This LGBT Pride Month, it’s important to examine the ways that voter suppression efforts, like newly-enacted photo ID laws, will have a disproportionately harmful impact on those who are transgender.
By James Esseks, Director, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project at 2:34pm
Last fall, K.L., an Alaskan who transitioned to living as a woman two years ago, got her local Department of Motor Vehicles office to change the gender marker on her driver’s license from M to F. She was thrilled to have her identity documents reflect her true gender. Then she got the letter from the state – prove you’ve had sex reassignment surgery or we’ll take the new license back.
A recent court order may not have attracted much media attention, but it is tremendously important to a few of us Alaskans. The order deals with the Department of Motor Vehicles' restrictions on changing the gender markers on driver's licenses for transgender Alaskans.
In Alaska, if you're a transgender person, the state requires you to have surgery to change the gender marker on your driver's license. Today, the ACLU filed a brief challenging this state surgery requirement on behalf of a transgender woman, K.L.
K.L. has lived as a woman for two years, and whose work documents and even her U.S. passport all identify her as female. But when she tried to change the gender on her state driver's license, she was told she had to submit proof of having undergone sex reassignment surgery.
It's hard to find the silver lining in the confused and unsettled results over last week's Anchorage Proposition 5 vote — that city's effort to pass by popular vote a law that would protect LGBT people from discrimination in employment, housing, and access to business serving the public. Perhaps when the votes are all counted, we'll discover that the announced loss was premature and inaccurate.
In a lawsuit we filed yesterday in Illinois, two transgender women asked the Cook County Circuit Court to order the state to issue them new birth certificates that reflect their appropriate gender following gender confirmation surgery (sometimes called sex reassignment surgery). The Illinois Department of Vital Records has refused to change the gender marker on their birth certificates because their reassignment surgery was performed outside the United States. Illinois is the only state to bar the option to change one’s gender on their birth certificate if the gender confirmation surgery is not performed by a United States-licensed physician. After carefully weighing their medical options, Victoria Kirk and Karissa Rothkopf, the two plaintiffs in today’s suit, both decided it was best to have their gender confirmation surgery in Thailand. “After making the difficult decision – with the advice and support of my physician and a therapist – to have surgery to conform to this identity, it was disheartening to learn that the state of Illinois would not issue a new birth certificate that recognizes me as a woman simply because I elected to have surgery overseas,” Karissa said. Kirk v. Arnold argues a birth certificate is a fundamental document for any individual, and it is critical that it accurately reflects one’s gender. Denying these women the ability to secure an accurate birth certificate is in opposition to the advice of medical experts who recommend that persons who transition their gender identity ensure that all aspects of their lives reflect that gender identity. “There’s this piece of paper that is wrong, it says I’m someone I’m not,” said Victoria. In addition, refusing to provide an accurate birth certificate poses everyday challenges that are unnecessary and dangerous. Having a corrected gender marker is important when a birth certificate is required to start a new job, get a driver’s license, enter a federal building or board an airplane. To learn more about this case, watch our video of Karissa Rothkopf and Victoria Kirk explaining how this legislation has impacted their lives and their gender confirmation surgery.
