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Australia to allow transgender passports
Topic Started: Sep 17 2011, 04:08 AM (353 Views)
Issa
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I know most to none of you care, but this is some of the most important and greatest news I have ever heard. I have never in my life been so proud of my country.

as taken from the pink news article

Quote:
 
Changes to passport rules in Australia are about to make travel a great deal easier for intersex or trans individuals.

Under the new rules, gender may be recorded on passports as ‘M’, ‘F’ – or ‘X’.

Additionally, trans individuals no longer need to undergo sex reassignment surgery in order to be issued with a passport in their preferred gender, nor – as is currently the case in the UK – will they need to undergo an intrusive review by a government body (gender recognition panel) before they can have that gender accepted.

Instead, according to foreign minister Kevin Rudd, Australians now have “the option of presenting a statement from a medical practitioner supporting their preferred gender”.

The ‘X’ status is reserved solely for intersex people – meaning that the Australian government appears to be the first in the world to legally recognise intersex people.

This is not quite the radical departure that it may at first sight seem: it is certainly not, as as some newspapers, including the UK’s own Guardian, have reported the recognition of a “third gender”.

Rather, it merely allows a “sex not specified” option for those who hold an Australian passport in future. It also makes it far easier for trans individuals to travel in their identified gender.

Reaction from trans and intersex organisations around the world was positive.

Campaigners with the OII Australia, which has been working directly with Kevin Rudd’s office on this issue, were out celebrating on Thursday night.

Australian senator Louise Pratt, the country’s first parliamentary representative with a transgender partner, said the passports reform was an important step forward.

Speaking to ABC Radio she said: “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.

“It’s very distressing, highly inconvenient and frankly sometimes dangerous.”

She added: “X is really quite important because there are people who are indeed genetically ambiguous and were probably arbitrarily assigned as one sex or the other at birth.”

Warmly welcoming the Australian decision, a spokeswoman for Trans-Aide in France said Australia was “giving a lesson in human rights to France”, which currently refuses to recognise sex reassignment without surgical intervention.

Meanwhile, a UK campaigner for intersex rights, Jennie Kermode, questioned whether a similar step might not now follow in the UK.

She told Pink News: “The passport offices in the UK will not issue passports with the ‘X’ option now, although they could do so without, as I understand it, any necessary change in UK laws.”
Edited by Issa, Sep 17 2011, 04:15 AM.
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Rasen
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Golden Witch
Well that's pretty cool. I never really thought about that before, but now that I have, I'm glad there is a country doing this. Hopefully more countries follows suit since it seems like a annoying problem without it.
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Professional Protagonist
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Girl power
Huh. That's pretty cool.
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Issa
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You have no idea how annoying it is. I had to get an official letter from a therapist before I could travel overseas previously. I'm just looking forward to when they finally get around to permitting the same option for Drivers License's. However, I am worried about any negative repercussion that this may have, such as altering marriage laws. Previously, a transgender person could get their birth certificate/everything else changed to state their desired gender after certain prerequisites were met. This allowed for transgender people to marry people of "the opposite sex" as defined by their birth certificates.
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TrippleNick

I know what it is like Issa and I am really glad that your country decided to make things easier for certain fokes. I can related because I know a friend that has a mental disability and she has to go all the way to washington DC to get a certain letter so she can take special classes. Im excited that you now can have a card and traval as freely as the rest of the UK =)
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Snow White
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And not a fuck was given
/Moved to General Discussion per request by a mobile Professional Protagonist

:Notes that the below opinion is an opinion and isn't meant to harm anyone. It's just my two cents :P )

*Strokes chin* I'm not a person who dislikes transexuals, however I view gender the same as your name. You can dress however you want, or call yourself whatever you want as long as it has nothing to do with.... Well, what was said in your post. When your appearance does not match up to what is on your ID, or passport (Not sure if i'm wording this right). I can walk down the street calling myself by my middle name and dressing like a man, but once I go to work, I go by my first name and I dress like a woman. The same would go for if I was at an airport. Why? It's what is asked of me, and I have no issue accomondating people for a short period of time to avoid trouble.

I've been frisked down over not having proper identification at an airport before and there's no way in Hell i'd do anything to get them to frisk me again. If I were a transexual and dressing like my gender will avoid me from dealing with being pulled aside and being groped like that, i'll look the part. A small inconvenience on my part would be a win win on both sides in my perspective. I'd get to bypass the security area in the airport and change after the plane lands and the security guys are non the wiser =3 I'm not going to hold up a large amount of people I will be stuck on a plane with later. That's insane :/ Transexuals HAVE to dress like their preferred gender when at a airport? Seriously? You will not die if you put pants on. Come on >3>

Having laws/rules passed/changed like this (Banning smoking from public areas, transexuals being able to choose their own gender on their passports, other laws like these I can't think of) are a waste of tax payer money conveniencing a small group of people that should have gone towards a larger cause that needs that money more.

Hey, my home town has no sidewalks but at least non-smokers can breathe freely now :llama:

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Issa
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I understand what you're saying, and I really have no idea how to explain it. People hate feeling like they're being forced into something, and transsexuals spend a large portion of their lives, often the majority of it feeling forced and pressured and trapped. Once you're able to be free of it, going back into that feeling of being trapped is the worst thing in the world, even if it is only for the duration of a plane ride.

Also, it's not neseccarily a case of "dress like it says on your passport, not how you feel" doesn't always work, espescially in younger transsexuals. Those who start HRT at a younger age and those who have lots of surgery often look incredibly feminine, and even when they dress boyish they still look male. However, according to the old laws, you could only get your gender on your passport changed after Sexual Reassignment Surgery, so this presented the issue of incredibly feminine looking women, and yet their passports say that they're male. including the X just makes things easier for everyone, and feels a lot less insulting even when you're not trying to fly overseas.
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Issa
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Quote:
 
The Home Office has said it is considering the possibility of not displaying gender on passports.

The proposals follow changes to Australian passport rules, which mean that intersex people who identify as neither gender can be listed as ‘X’, rather than having to choose between male or female.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are exploring with international partners and relevant stakeholders the security implications of gender not being displayed on the passport.”

Currently, transgender people can obtain passports in their new gender. But intersex people – those born with chromosomal or genital ambiguity – must pick whether they are male or female.

Supporters of gender-neutral passports say there is little need for passports to list gender and argue that other forms of ID do not state the information.

Intersex rights campaigner Jennie Kermode told PinkNews.co.uk last week that the change would be easy to implement.

She said: “The passport offices in the UK will not issue passports with the ‘X’ option now, although they could do so without, as I understand it, any necessary change in UK laws.”
Edited by Issa, Sep 19 2011, 10:12 AM.
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