Soooo... we elected Trump. I dont trust this nation anymore, Trump's election means hate is okay and there have already been several attacks on trans people in his name. Me and my bf are planning on leaving the country. I'm still weighing my options about where although I am seriously considering either going to school in Germany, or going to Sweden. Still doing research though... Buuut I have some questions regarding Expatriation. -If I move to another country is my legal name and gender determined by my existing passport? Basically, if I can get my name changed and my gender marker changed, can I live my life as me legally. -How would this work with hormone prescriptions. Do I need to get a new doctor? Could my existing doctor somehow still give me prescriptions? Or would it be possible to get meds without prescriptions? -Is there anything else I may need to keep in mind?
Your name should be considered as whatever your legal name is. If you changed it, then that is your name, and no other name should matter even abroad as far as I understand it. I don't know about legal gender, though... hopefully someone else can give more insight on that. You should not obtain medication without a prescription. Even if the dosages you give yourself are what the doctor has given you in the past, you need your blood monitored and your dosages may need to be altered as time passes in order to keep you healthy. In some countries hormones are also controlled substances only available via prescription, so obtaining them otherwise could be illegal. I don't know about keeping your current doctor or if they'd allow it - either way, I would think it'd be easiest to get a new doctor due to the aforementioned blood monitoring and such, and because they'll have personal access to you and be able to talk to and see you directly if you have any issues. You've probably already done so, but be sure to look up trans protections in whatever countries you plan to move to, as well as social attitudes towards trans people. It'd be awesome if some trans people who live in those countries could comment here as well I think and provide their experiences. I hope everything goes well, and stay safe. (*hug*)
If you've legally changed your name and gender marker you should have no problem here in Germany, especially if you've changed your birth certificate as well. I imagine the same is true for Sweden. Germany even has a law that makes it illegal to disclose if someone is trans, it's also illegal to give out someone birth name if you've already changed your name legally. You can't get testosterone without a prescription in Germany, so imagine the same goes for other hormones. If you decide to move, you should probably ask your doctor to write you a prescription and a letter why you definitely need these hormones. Take those things to a German trans friendly endocrinologist and you should be good to go. If you have any questions concerning being trans in Germany feel free to ask.
Here's another german you can ask if you want to know something about the country. About transitioning I have no idea. But I heard that there have been assaults on transgender people in both germany and sweden by the new "cultural enrichment". I don't want to scare you away, but we can't grant for safety, not even for our average woman.
Their burning pride flags, and the cars for trans people here. I'm making an extensive list of countries and the pros/cons to moving there but I cant seem to find information on how expatriating works for trans people.I'm not really finding any true transgender sanctuaries, so I'm picking the lesser evils at this point. I definitely appreciate the response, especially knowing there are people I can bug about transgender Germany. I almost wish trans visibility wasnt spiked by the jenner issue... Anyways. I suppose a better weay tp ask. Would new country essentially be working off of your passport's gender marker and name as your legal name? At least here in the US there are so many different places where a legal name/gender is listed, and updating one does not necessarily allow you to change others. Im not eager to get prescrips without a doctor but depending on either medical costs or legalities or trans recognition that may be harder depending on where I go. I am simply trying to determine my options at this point.
My fiancee and I are considering New Zealand, Austrlalia or Chile. Though she probably would love to go to Germany or Switzerland instead since she took German all throughout highschool. I took Japanese. Why I do that?? lol I also have an elementary understanding of Spanish (which she doesn't) so I think Chile would be kind of cool. I'd love to become fluent. And her job might be getting a contract there so we could actually get visas... But in the meantime I guess I'll work on getting my gender marker and name changed in case they decide to make gay marriage illegal again.
@ Rick: Take Switzerland then. It's a lot harder to move there but for safety it's better. Still, your school german won't be that useful they have a funny accent but very good chocolate!
You probably couldn't call Germany a sanctuary for trans people, but if you move to a bigger city it's possible to build up a sort of safety network I had a quick look on this website here German Missions in the United States - Visa and it looks like you only need a passport. A passport is also a valid form of ID anywhere Germany so you could use it to look for a job/apartment/etc
@AaronV: Yes, a safety network could be build there. But Artemis is a woman after all...have you forgotten the rape night of Colonia? I would say, somewhere in black forest maybe? People are liberal in the state it belongs to so no safety network for LGBT would be necessary and there are little to no crazy rapists. Also there is a lot of tourism and with you knowing english you could probably get a job there.
I'm not really sure if I should answer that question, what happened in Cologne was horrible and I don't want to downplay anything but it was a) not a "rape night" b) not a representative event of day to day life in Germany and most importantly c) completely irrelevant to this topic, which is why I will refrain from discussing it any further.
I think is is. Because our american friends are used to being protected either by police or by themselves, because they can have arms. You live in Berlin, right? I think Neukölln and Kreuzberg are representative enough that we should take care where we advise them to go. ---------- Post added 15th Nov 2016 at 09:26 AM ---------- You know they start all over and we don't know how fast they will climb the social ladder. Chances are that at first they won't live in the best part of the city.
I don't know anything about how transgender stuff is handled in sweden but I'd still say that that's where you should go. It's true that nowadays s lot of Germans speak English (although most do it pretty badly) but it can still prove to be very limiting when searching for an university or a job. They do of course exist but it's still gonna be hard to find something unless you have a very high qualification. In Sweden however you probably won't have any language problems since English is very widespread. 90% of the population speaks English and there was even a debate to make it the second official language at some point. They thus have English TV programs and a lot of good international universities which would give you a lot more chances than you have in Germany.
For your consideration... Denmark is supposed to be one of the best places to be trans, and it also boasts the title of "Happiest country in the world", I believe. It's also small and unassuming, and not likely a target if another world war breaks out.
