Falling for the Transexual Agenda
New York has taken the apparently revolutionary step of letting New Yorkers change their legal gender assignment without spilling blood:
Separating anatomy from what it means to be a man or a woman, New York City is moving forward with a plan to let people alter the sex on their birth certificate even if they have not had sex-change surgery.
Applicants would have to have changed their name and shown that they had lived in their adopted gender for at least two years, but there would be no explicit medical requirements.
I'd prefer that New York not track the state of anyone's genitalia, buy into a binary concept of gender, or legislate fundamental expressions of personal identity (preferences that surely qualify me as some kind of sex offender in Ohio). But as long as New York is paying attention, it seems fairly obvious that individuals should be able to decide how they are listed--and without the affidavits from doctors and mental health professionals the state will still require.
As The New York Times notes, allowing the switch should screw with restrictions on gay marriage--always a plus--and create some other interesting legal snafus. It should also leave these kids severely damaged.
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Hmmmm... So John lives as a woman for a few years, legally changes his gender to female. Then he - uh, she - changes his - uh, her - name to Joan and then is, thus, allowed to marry Phil, his - uh, her - long-time lover without violating any marriage statutes. All without seeing what he - uh, she - has in her boxers - uh, panties.
I see it's. It's all very clear now. Two people of the same gender can legally marry as long as one of them has made the effort to appear as though they were of the opposite sex.
*head collapses on keyboard in utter confusion*
Based on that article, it sounds like it will still require a lot of work to get the gender changed on the birth certificate. I doubt there would be a lot of gays getting their gender changed on their birth certificate so that they could marry. (Transgenderism(?) not being the same thing as homosexuality.)I also doubt that many medical professionals would be willing to perjure themselves.
Just let John and Phil get married. WTF are we doing here? Is it really this complicated?
I want my birth certificate to read "omnisexual". make it so.
Whatever happened to the concept of objective reality. Unless you have both sets of equipment you are either male OR female. What goes on in your head has no bearing on that fact. I might think of myself as a suave, handsome debonair playboy spy, but that doesn't make me one.
Shaken, not stirred,
Hunter
Pi Guy,
What if John is straight but feels like a woman? Then if he changes, he can no longer get legally married to Jenn.
You're right. Transgenderites(?) are not necessarily homosexual. I have no idea what the numbers are but it doesn't mattter as I don't think that it even require transgenderism (no explicit medical requirements). Transvestitism(?) appears to be sufficient which, the way I interpret it (which I admit is not necessarily the manner intended by the law) means that if you "adopt" that gender for some sufficient amount of time, you can apply to have your gender offically, legally changes.
@ David:
True. But I don't see any provision that would prevent him from adopting his - uh, her - original gender for the prerequisite amount of time and re-applying.
Again, while I don't wish to stand in the way of any act by anyone if it does no harm to me, I am truly perplexed by why any of this is necessary...
I think that the most important question to be addressed is in which bathroom line will you stand at a concert?
Looking at my NY drivers license as I type this (for which I pay for the privilege of not driving, like many NYers), I note that the state needs to know my age, eye color, and height as well as my gender.
Also, my class, which is "D."
I think we might as well let it all hang out, so to speak, and go the full Foley, listing gential length as well.
I'm just curious - is the fedgov required to recognize sex changes that the stategov recognizes?
I'm with Hunter on this one. If a guy decides to get his dick cut off and wear a dress around, more power to him (I guess), but that doesn't make him a woman. I'll even call him a "she" to be polite, but the government shouldn't be polite with its accounting.
I like how New York requires a name change. What if I don't want to change my name?
It's pretty easy:
XY = Male
XX = Female
XXX = Illegal in Kentucky.
I've decided that instead of being a healthy, straight, white male, I'm now a disabled, lesbian, black female. Can I please get a business loan or accepted to college now?
If they go the full monty and get Mr. Happy removed, then I have no problem with them being labeled female. I have two transsexual friends who have gone "all the way"- as far as I'm concerned, they're women, and the government should consider them the same.
But as long as they've still got the standard equipment.... no. I also live next door to a pair of drag queens- they're not women. Period.
I know my new strategy if I am ever going to jail in New York state.
Did they rip this article off from an episode of Law & Order: SVU?
Timothy:
don't forget aneuploid chromosomal conditions!
Turner syndrome: X-
Klinefelter syndrome: XXY
"supermale" syndrome: XYY
triple X syndrome: XXX (ok, you covered that)
Ultimately, the question should be why the fuck are there laws regarding this anyhoo? The government shouldn't be interested in anybody's gender anyway, except maybe for statistics sake.
Adam & Eve
Adam & Steve
Eve & Lilith
Adam (F/K/A Eve) & Lilith (F/K/A Steve)
Who gives a shit?
Whatever happened to the concept of objective reality. Unless you have both sets of equipment you are either male OR female.
Objective reality is actually a lot more complicated than that. There are people with the Y chromosome walking around with the external genitals of women, but no uterus or ovaries (and a pair of testes in their place). Jamie Lee Curtis is a famous example. Then, there are men with two X chromosomes, ovaries and a uterus. Then there are conditions like Mayer-Rokitansky-Kustur-Hauser syndrome, true hermaphroditism, chimerism, parital androgen insensitivity or absent SRY on the Y-chromosome.
did i just see that a reason editor does NOT buy into the gender binary?
kerry howley, you made my day. please, try to educate some of the more benighted commentors.
statements such as "I'll even call him a "she" to be polite" are really quite IMpolite; don't pat yourself on the back for merely humouring someone. transfolk are not simply playing dressup.
if i must libertarian-namedrop here, perhaps some of you have heard of deirdre (formerly donald) mccloskey. if you haven't, here's a primer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deirdre_McCloskey
"transfolk are not simply playing dressup"
That does not mean that they actually are what they think they are, though. Because someone has a delusion does not require everyone else to buy into it.
I think some of you are missing what I'm trying to say. Zach, don't try and help. APL you raise some good points, although I think most of those are covered under my "both sets of equipment". You can correct me if I'm wrong, but most of those conditions are fairly rare. The NY law allows anyone regardless of physical or genetic ambiguity to legally change their gender. Think about what can of worms (no pun intended)would be opened changing something as concretely real as the concept of physical gender.
you guys are such assholes.
Does anyone see the opportunities associated with legal-not-physical sex changes? Certain perverts could have their sex and go into women's bathrooms/locker rooms and have themselves a view while being immune from any legal repercussions. Not that that would be such a bad thing. 🙂
I love Big Ass