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New Australian passports allow third gender option


Dogboat Taurog
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14926598

 

"An Australian senator, Louise Pratt - whose partner was born female and is now identified as a man - said the reform was a huge step forward.

"There have been very many cases of people being detained at airports by immigration in foreign countries simply because their passports don't reflect what they look like," she told Australian radio."



of course having a recent photo of yourself on your passport would be a ridiculous idea lol

and imagine all the australians who will tick the third gender box for a giggle. :smileyvery-happy:

 

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actually people get detained despite having recent photos

 

and lest you think it's just trans people, or even just include the intersexed crowd, the truth is even average men and women get stopped if their physical appearance (especially) or attire (occasionally) violate the inspectors expectation of what male or female should look like.

 

personally I think they took a step in the wrong direction... rather than adding more categories they should just do away with gener marks on ID completely.... it's not as if it serves any useful purpose on there.

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Void Singer wrote:

actually people get detained despite having recent photos

 

and lest you think it's just trans people, or even just include the intersexed crowd, the truth is even average men and women get stopped if their physical appearance (especially) or attire (occasionally) violate the inspectors expectation of what male or female should look like.

 

personally I think they took a step in the wrong direction... rather than adding more categories they should just do away with gener marks on ID completely.... it's not as if it serves any useful purpose on there.

probably helps in bump evaluation.

is that a gun or are you just pleased to see me etc.

it would just be easier to use a typical photo of you, or is that too PC nowadays?

and isn't the idea to get through custom as quickly as possible and make it as easy as possible?

after all, we all love waiting to get out after a long flight.

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a letter on a card helps determine the size or presence of a "pistol"? I'm not sure which is more impressive, the leap of illogic or the failure of the metal detector.

 

and when (or where) did they start allowing "typical" photos for ID? last I checked they all required largely unadorned headshots, current at the time of issue.

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This is just fantastic news!

I have booked in to be *reassigned as a Rainbow Lorakeet *sighs :matte-motes-inlove: How awesome! :P I wanted to become a Cassowary? but they ran out of bits for those :( It's too hot in the Far Nth Queensland tropics anyways. *drums fingernails on table and looks out window...

Thank you Julia & Co, just what I have been wishing for! \o/

(I wondered what they had been doing in Canberra all this time).

*After reading the Naming thread and knowing very little about these issues in RL I extend an assurance to any TG person that that I do in fact respect their rights to be acknowledged. I apologise if my post offends anyone whom this issue relates to personally.

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Void Singer wrote:

a letter on a card helps determine the size or presence of a "pistol"? I'm not sure which is more impressive, the leap of illogic or the failure of the metal detector.

 

and when (or where) did they start allowing "typical" photos for ID? last I checked they all required largely unadorned headshots, current at the time of issue.

well i'll try to explain, oh actually i wont bother, you just wouldnt get any of it anyway.

 

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Dogboat Taurog wrote:



 
of course having a recent photo of yourself on your passport would be a ridiculous idea lol

 

Let me clarify since you clearly don't get it.  The photo for transgendered people is recent.  That's the problem.  For example, if the photo of a person and the person themself presents as a woman e.g. Miriam Rivera:

Miriam.jpg

but the gender says "male" it gets the transgendered person immediately flagged and often leads to a very uncomfortable, invasive, humiliating experience.  It is not trivial or funny.  I go through it every year several times a year.

Australia and most countries wont allow a transgendered person to have the gender with which they identify and present on any government issued ID such as a driver license or passport unless they have had sexual reassignment surgery.

That generally cannot happen until they have lived as a their chosen gender, undergone HRT, and attended gender therapy counseling sessions for at least a year, after which they can only get the surgery after receiving a letter of recommendation from their therapist and have saved up 5 figures for the surgery (which is not covered by insurance in many cases).

On top of that, some transgendered people cannot undergo SRS for medical related or economic reasons.  There are also transgendered people within the spectrum who are not able to fulfill the criterion to get SRS and live their lives as a non-op.

So that means most transgendered people have to live for years or indefinitely dealing with being harrassed and humiliated every time they go to the airport, get stopped for a traffic ticket, or go through some other kind of checkpoint.  This legislation is an important step towards ameliorating that situation for transgendered people.

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I was quite proud to hear that we'd advanced our official thinking about how we label people in Aus. Then I realised that the third label is probably not really the most ideal solution. Shouldn't we just let people update their gender easily to represent who they are (according to who they identify as), and leave it at that? No further invasion of privacy or exposing labels needed.

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Tiffy Vella wrote:

I was quite proud to hear that we'd advanced our official thinking about how we label people in Aus. Then I realised that the third label is probably not really the most ideal solution. Shouldn't we just let people update their gender easily to represent who they are (according to who they identify as), and leave it at that? No further invasion of privacy or exposing labels needed.

That would be the ideal for someone who is transsexual but this kind of compromise for pre-ops and non-ops is better than nothing.  There are ways of ensuring recognition of traditional gender status for pre-op transsexuals that prevent abuse/misuse of such an option that are in practice in some jurisdictions, and perhaps some day other jurisdictions, including Australia, will recognize them.

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Void Singer wrote:

a letter on a card helps determine the size or presence of a "pistol"? I'm not sure which is more impressive, the leap of illogic or the failure of the metal detector.

and when (or where) did they start allowing "typical" photos for ID? last I checked they all required largely unadorned headshots, current at the time of issue.

And head shots aren't all that useful at identifying heads either, it seems...

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/334420/title/Same_face%2C_different_person

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Dagmar Heideman wrote:


Dogboat Taurog wrote:



 
of course having a recent photo of yourself on your passport would be a ridiculous idea lol

 

Let me clarify since you clearly don't get it.  The photo for transgendered people is recent.  That's the problem.  For example, if the photo of a person and the person themself presents as a woman e.g. Miriam Rivera:

Miriam.jpg

but the gender says "male" it gets the transgendered person immediately flagged and often leads to a very uncomfortable, invasive, humiliating experience.  It is not trivial or funny.  I go through it every year several times a year.

Australia and most countries wont allow a transgendered person to have the gender with which they identify and present on any government issued ID such as a driver license or passport unless they have had sexual reassignment surgery.

That generally cannot happen until they have lived as a their chosen gender, undergone HRT, and attended gender therapy counseling sessions for at least a year, after which they can only get the surgery after receiving a letter of recommendation from their therapist and have saved up 5 figures for the surgery (which is not covered by insurance in many cases).

On top of that, some transgendered people cannot undergo SRS for medical related or economic reasons.  There are also transgendered people within the spectrum who are not able to fulfill the criterion to get SRS and live their lives as a non-op.

So that means most transgendered people have to live for years or indefinitely dealing with being harrassed and humiliated every time they go to the airport, get stopped for a traffic ticket, or go through some other kind of checkpoint.  This legislation is an important step towards ameliorating that situation for transgendered people.

I agree 100%, but it is interesting that you chose Miriam Rivera as an example :) Not only am I a huge fan of her, she is also one of the non-OP and doesn't-want-OP trans women that I mentioned in another thread. Miriam has been quoted as saying "My mother always says to me, 'Why would you want to be half-and-half? Why don't you want to be a complete woman?' But I just love myself and I'm really enjoying my life".

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