Just heard back about my application and going before panel on 10th September so will hear after that, then when get new birth certificate after that so things moving along nicely.
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Just heard back about my application and going before panel on 10th September so will hear after that, then when get new birth certificate after that so things moving along nicely.
That's fantastic.
I'm just starting to change over the I.D. that I can, and it's a lot of hoops to jump thru. I went to change my drivers lic. and when I asked to lady for a gender change, she said 'Why, is there a mistake?' A little flustered, I said 'Lady... look up'. Then she said 'You can't just change it.' To which I had to explain to her that I had all the paperwork, and yes, I could change it. She finally looked it up, took my paperwork, a new photo, and said it has to be approved, and should take three weeks.
Beaurocracy has it's challenges. This girl was not at fault at all. She had simply never dealt with a gender change.
Sounds lot more red tape to go tough overseas than here in uk as here change name & gender and title by deed poll then inform everyone of change then live two years as female and can apply for gender certificate then birth certificate. Over seas i think lot more red tape and going tough courts etc.
Perhaps so, but one great thing about Canada. Legally you are whatever gender you care to be, as long as one Dr. or Therapst agrees with you, and will sign a letter saying that is your preferred gender, and not meant to defraud.
Received my Gender Recognition Certificate couple days ago so as from 9/11/2013 i have officially been recognized as female and have all the same rights as female. I now be receiving new birth certificate within next few weeks. I am so pleased.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!Girlfriend, that is fabulous news; you are now officially on your road to your true self.
I am very happy for you, hope you enjoy your weekend.
Congratulations Zoe
This is the final piece of the puzzle for me. As soon as the Same Sex Marriage Act is implemented then I shall be applying for the GRC. It is not essential for me, but is certainly helpful in case of any "legal" issues. We may be a little behind with some other countries, but it is nice to know that things are going in the right direction
You've done incredibly well to get your GRC so quickly, especially as you haven't been on hormones for very long, and you don't appear to have had too many appointments at the GIC.
At my GIC (Nottingham) they would not countersign any GRC application without some form of surgery (orchidectomy, labioplasty or vaginoplasty) despite the "rules" saying that you have to live for at least two years. Although post-op now, I'm not really in any hurry to get a GRC, as the clinic said I only really need it for a wedding certificate or my death certificate. I said I'm not planning on the former at all, and the latter I'm trying to put off for as long as possible!
Deborah, whilst you may not be in a hurry, just remember that LEGALLY you are still gendered as MALE. Within the UK, whilst they may accept a change of name and or title, without a change to your birth certificate, via a GRC, everything you may be entitled to i.e pension, retirement etc will be calculated as male.
In Canada, pension, retirement, child-care credits, and so on, are gender neutral. I do not know, though, about commercial life insurance pricing or about car insurance pricing.
Celeste, as best I know, there is no national policy in Canada as to the requirements for changing legal gender. Passports depend upon provincial status, and provincial policies differ. Changes must be done through province of residence (if one has resided there for more than 3 months), and not through province of birth. Ontario has the most generous policy; if I recall correctly, Quebec has the least. Ontario changed in response to a human rights complaint that was decided at the Ontario level and so is not binding upon the other provinces.
Nigella, since they equalised the retirement age my pension is not affected, nor is my age of retirement any different now (and wasn't before - I'm a civil servant).
TBH i cant recall the last time I needed my birth certificate for anything (probably when I got my first passport - in 1979) and I don't even know where it is!
Congratulations! There's something surprisingly satisfying about government recognition. I guess it's representative of societal acceptance so there's that aspect, but the practical benefits of having documentation congruent with your identity is huge. During the period where my passport and driver's license disagreed with one another it was incredibly disconcerting, in part because I had to book flights under different genders depending on my destination! It's so nice to have the kind of nonsense behind you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunny Girl Zoe
Nice to have official paper saying female as my gender and to have same rights as one by law. Plus needed it to get new birth certificate.
I haven't started that process yet, but I have been told that here it is fairly simple to get most of it done. The only thing I am not sure about is my birth certificate. It was issued in Georgia and I need to find out the rules they have for changing it. In Florida the name change and gender marker change is easy, spend about $400 for court to change name, get letter from therapist and go to DL office and SS office, then spend time with everyone else like the bank, work etc.
I plan to do all of this sometime after the first of the year. 2014 is my year!
Zoe - how did you manage to get it so quickly? I know of several post op girls who still can't get it.
Nigella - it just shows how silly the system is, I'm now post op but according to your post still legally male, but Zoe who is still physically male is now legally female. Bizarre?
Bizarre maybe but direct from the government website. That does not mean that you cannot declare yourself female, indeed I have a driving licence that has a female gender marker, my medical records are all recorded as female so I will get the normal call ups that a genetic female would get. Legally I am male, but I intend to change that once the Same Sex Marriage Act is enacted and the rules for the GRC are changed.Quote:
By law you remain your birth gender unless you apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate to change it legally
Zoe must have satisfied the requirements of the Gender Recognition Panel to qualify for the GRC.
OK, if it's OK by Zoe (eg if you feel this is taking the thread off course then please alert the mods) I'd like to ask at this stage what can be changed when (in the UK). It was my understanding that you could change your name and title by deed poll, but you can't change your gender until you have a GRC, which is only issued after SRS. But a few posts here say otherwise, so I'm getting confused. Easily done, but any clarification would be helpful.
Dont need to have srs to get grc to have lived two years as female and proof that you have plus medical report from gender clinic and gp.
Amy, Zoe has it right, just click on the link in my post #16
Name change and title can be changed in a number of ways, however, a deed poll is by far the most common way. Gender markers on a number of documents can be changed as I've posted about, however, the legal change of gender is not complete without a GRC.
Within the UK we are fortunate that to be considered TS, with its protection under the equalities act, we do not have to undergo surgery, and that is reflected in the link.
A lease we can change name and gender as can't do that in Thailand so not like be in there shoes. More open with ts but on other hand says can't legally change gender.
That's one step already.
Nothing really to do with the Equalities Act 2010, because it was enshrined in law under the Gender Recognition Act 2004. One of the reasons that SRS was not a requirement was because of Transmen whose surgery is so much more complicated than for transwomen.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nigella
However I do find it hard to reconcile the fact that someone with male genitalia, and only on hormones for seven months can get a GRC while some post op women have had all sorts of problems getting their GRC
I'm not saying its the case here, but the OP could decide hormones and life as a woman is not for her and she could revert to being male, so she could still be legally female but to all intents and purposes, male.
Deborah, is that a problem, that someone could be legally female but for all intents and purposes, male ? It happens to transmen, and the reverse happens to transwomen all the time (all intents and purposes be female but legally male) ? You aren't going to invoke the bathroom question, are you?
Sandra - no the bathroom question has nothing to do with this. I guess I hark back to a certain banned poster who would and could not accept a person calling themselves a woman but retaining a penis.
Knowing the issues some transwomen who have been post op for sometime having all sorts of issues getting a GRC I find it hard to reconcile that a person only on hormones for seven months (and only prescribed them some four months ago) seemingly got her GRC after only two years full time (I accept that she fulfilled that part of the requirement) where everyone I know had to undertake the GIC imposed RLE and undertake some form of surgery before the psych would countersign the application.
And its not sour grapes on my part because I can, if I want, apply for my own GRC. I just find it puzzling.
The Equalities Act supersedes the Gender Recognition Act, as with a number of other acts relating to discrimination and inequalities. They were all combined into the Equalities Act.
Then the issue Deborah is not with the Gender Recognition Panel, but with individual GICs. The panel will only act upon the information/documentation they have presented to them, if the psych at a particular GIC will not counter sign the medical reports, then the individual needs to find out why.
Evidence required by the panelQuote:
Under paragraph 11 the Panel should see:
a. the diagnosis,
b. details of when and by whom the diagnosis was made,
c. the principal evidence relied on in making the diagnosis
d. details of the non-surgical (eg hormonal) treatment to date (giving details of medications prescribed, with dates) and an indication of treatment planned, and
e. date of referral for surgery, or, if no referral, the reasons for non- referral.