I have my birth certificate out, as I'm filling out my passport application. It seems mundane enough, most people have one, but this one is very special. By having an F in the sex designation box, the government of Ontario has basically admitted they made a terrible mistake 56 years ago, and with a quick look between my minutes old legs, attempted to seal my fate for the next eighty something years. Any trans person can see, the 'peek between the legs' is a really bad way of determining gender.
What are the options?
British Columbia has tossed around the idea of genderless birth certificates, with the idea that at the age of 4 or 5 the child can make up it's mind. However, are we to raise genderless children, specially when the old 'it's got a penis' system was most likely going to be right?
In a recent (flawed) test, four and five year old children were asked if they felt they were girls of boys. 10% answered the opposite of their birth sex. This proves nothing, if they were given the third option of vampire, that would have scored 10% as well. Kids can't make that distinction...except trans kids. They know.
What are we to do. The old system isn't working, but there are few workable options. Also, should we change the whole system for our tiny population?
My humble opinion is that we keep the system we've got. Vagina owning babies will still be considered girls, until proven otherwise. Likewise for boys. What we need is just a fast, efficient, universal system for righting the wrong once the time comes. The American system, of laws differing from state to state, with some states having very liberal thoughts on gender, and others making transition a nightmare, is archaic, and stupid. It's a little better here in Canada, but residents of Saskatchewan (sp?) still can't get a birth cert. amended.
Politicians, lawmakers, and anybody with a hand in creating policy, have got to realize...this is real...we need real solutions. The only solution I see, short of the aforementioned genderless babies, is making transition (the legal end of it) easy. Fill out some forms, bingo, you're a girl (or a boy). My province has this system, and it seems to work fine.
Back to my birth certificate. It is truly a marvel. Two things any government hates- Admitting they made a mistake, and correcting it. They have done both in my case, yet my good friend in West Virginia can't even get her drivers license!