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Ontario allows transgender people to change birth certificate without surgery

Discussion in 'Current Events, World News, & LGBT News' started by Dan82, Oct 12, 2012.

  1. Dan82

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    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...h-certificate-without-surgery/article4609037/


     
  2. RainDreamer

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    That's it, I am going to do whatever I can to obtain a Canadian citizenship. This country seems like the nicest one in the world right now for me.
     
  3. RueBea85

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    I'm Canadian eh?
    Canada is awesome :slight_smile:
    I'm glad to hear about this and it's so nice to see Canada going in this direction. Now if only the rest of the world could follow.
     
  4. SkyDiver

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    So proud of my country for doing what's right!
     
  5. King

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    Makes me proud to be a Canadian. :slight_smile:
     
  6. J Snow

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    I'm kind of surprised this wasn't already allowed. I know in Iowa you haven't needed any surgery for a gender change for a few years I think, and I tend to think of Canadian politics as being quite ahead of ours.

    Edit: at least that's what I've been told in one of my trans groups. I'm going to try to find some evidence of it.

    Edit 2: I guess now the policy in Iowa is you need to present a court order or amended birth certificate in order for a legal gender change, but no surgery is required.
     
    #6 J Snow, Oct 13, 2012
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2012
  7. MusicIsLife

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    I'm seriously jealous :frowning2: here in Quebec you still need SRS before you can change your gender on your birth certificate.
     
  8. confuzzled82

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    Unfortunately, if you weren't born in Ontario, this does nothing for you. Birth certificates go by where you were born, not where you live.
     
  9. Ruthven

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    That's fantastic! :eusa_danc

    But I shouldn't have read the comments on the article....:eusa_doh:I feel a little sick now.:icon_sad:
     
  10. Yay :grin:


    that is why I don't read the comment sections of most things online.
     
  11. Olive

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    =D

    I had no clue!

    Well... Shit! Looks like I'm not going to Colorado like I expected!

    EDIT:

    Can somebody tell me why I felt the need to look at the comments?
     
    #11 Olive, Oct 14, 2012
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2012
  12. J Snow

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    I'm not sure, but you got me to look at them now =P Or I would look at them if the link was working at the moment.

    I honestly didn't know there were other trans people in Iowa on here. I thought my information about Iowa's policy was going to be irrelevant to everyone else but I'm glad it wasn't =P

    Edit: Yep, probably shouldn't have looked at those comments...
     
    #12 J Snow, Oct 15, 2012
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2012
  13. Fiddledeedee

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    I agree that if birth certificate sexes are allowed to be changed then it shouldn't require surgery -- good for Ontario! However, a birth certificate is meant to document what you were like at birth, so I don't think sex should be something you can change on it at all. A better option would be having one line for sex and another for gender, with the latter being changable.
     
  14. Curly

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    The problem with this is that some people don't identify that way or want to be labeled that way. For example, I have friends who are perfectly fine with having female marker on their documents but present as male and use male pronouns and identify as trans male. Some don't want the female marker at all becuase they may not identify as "trans", they are just male and it makes sense to be male and no questions asked. It's def a more complicated question than just that.

    ps.. those are indeed some uncomfortable comments.
     
  15. Bebop

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    ^ Are people really that adamant about these sort of things? I mean sex is a biological definition which is (generally) perfectly discernible at birth and if they are really needed for some sort of recording purposes or documentation (doubtful but still) then they really don't need to be changed. Of course if it's really doesn't change much then go for it if it makes people feel better.
    The main problem with having a sex and gender section on a birth certificate is that it can only be filled out later in life and as it's a birth certificate so kind of defeats the purpose. And I really wouldn't say babies have a gender in the first place.
     
  16. Changing the sex on a birth certificate isn't just to make us trans people "feel better." We know our biological sex --- most of us think about the dysphoria it causes on a daily basis. Changing our birth certificate is important for legal purposes. For example, when I travelled to Canada, I had to bring my BC to cross the border. I was presenting as a female at the time, with a female name, but say I hadn't been. Let's say I had been on HRT for a significant amount of time, was passing full-time as a man, and had an obviously male name on my ID with a male gender marker (which is very simple to obtain), but my BC says "female" and displays my feminine birth name. On top of any discrimination I may receive, being outed against my will, and possibly being publicly embarrassed in the process, I will be held up while people try to figure out if I am who I claim to be. Isn't it much more convenient to both them and myself to just be able to have my BC altered? I know that in my state, you can change your marker on everything else besides your BC without surgery, including license, insurance, Social Security, etc. but having to explain why not all my documents match is a hassle to everyone involved.

    Also, many trans people would like to live a stealth life post-transition, and that makes it impossible to do so. The only people who need to know what's under my clothes are my significant other and my medical doctors, not the government.
     
  17. Bebop

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    Sorry if I was offensive in some way, but yes that case would be quite annoying and allowing the change would make it less difficult for the people involved and I honestly don't know enough about how birth certificates are used everywhere and how being able to change details could effect there use. For whether the government needs to know yeah that's a whole other thing.