So I just got home from my exam to find a letter from the passport office. Apparently I need to give them a letter from my GP saying 'the gender I have assumed' is likely to be permanent. This would be fine, except I sent one of those with the application, so either they have lost it or they just won't accept it. So I call them up, and after 25 minutes I get through to someone and we have the following exchange. Me: Hi, I got a letter about my passport application. Apparently I need to send a letter from my GP Her: Do you have a reference number? Me: Umm....yep, it's NUMBER. Her: Is this for your daughters application? Me: Not, it's definitely my application Her: No, this is for a woman Me: Yep. Her: Oh. Sorry about that. She then told me that someone would call me back about it. Is it just me being difficult or does a casual "sorry about that" not quite cut the mustard...I mean she flat out told me it wasn't my application, it couldn't be because I'm not a woman based on my voice. I realise my voice isn't exactly feminine, but come on. Can you imagine if a cis-woman with a low voice had called and been told that? She'd be really upset... Anyway perhaps I'm overreacting I don't know...
Hey! I don't really like commenting on threads but this one I can heavily relate to: I'm sure I pass physically but people often get confused when they hear my voice. Please don't blame the person you called with, I'm very sure she was simply trying to make sure it was actually your application. She probably forgot to consider it (and I'm sure you know this) as gender people aren't really ''usual'' and are very often stereotyped. I had this problem alot with my family and school. People usually forget about us, it's something I've noticed alot after coming out to everyone and publically. If it is to any help to you, what I usually do is flat out tell people that I identify as a female regardless of how I sound or look whenever I notice doubt coming from their side. It may not be as easy for you as it is for me but it usually prevents things like this. People like that (com. people, or people that have to deal with people daily) should accept you regardless though, I'm sure they shouldn't be allowed to deal with people if they're not understanding of LGBT people or other kinds! I know how it feels but I'm very certain she didn't mean any harm with it. (*hug*)
Honestly with just a voice over a phone her mistake could have been honest. However her pushing it after you said it was yours means she obviously wasn't thinking in terms of you might be transgender or something. Her job probably requires her to be LGBTQ friendly, but she seems to rarely deal with transitioning people. I think her mistake was honest. She only had your voice so she inferred things. It happens. I'm sure if she had talked with you in person she would have approached the situation more gracefully.
I have two cisgender male friends who are constantly mistaken for women over the phone. And think about Chris Colfer, for example, who is basically a soprano. So this isn't limited to transgender people. I understand that in your situation anything like this is particularly sensitive because you've been experiencing this sort of discrimination for a long time. So you're perhaps going to be a bit more sensitive than others who haven't experienced that sort of thing time after time. I seriously doubt it was an intended slight; on the contrary, the person on the other end was probably embarrassed by her mistake and wasn't quite sure how to handle it. When we experience embarrassment, few of us can go immediately to empathy; a response of pulling ourselves away and out of the circumstance is most common. In any case, I hope you're able to get this resolved soon. The ability of governmental agencies to lose, misfile, misplace, or otherwise screw up anything handed to them seems universal among all countries and cultures. I hope in your situation it gets resolved soon.
Well they called me back today. Apparently the problem was that my doctor never included the phrase "change is likely to be permanent" in the letter...that was it. Doctor called me a MAN in the letter, wrote no more than two sentences and neither made sense, but that phrase was all they are concerned about...which is pretty sweet I guess... Passport biznitches! To the doctors!
