If you have a trans person in your life

[sonrisa]

Now is the time to change name and gender markers on birth certificates, drivers license, passports, social security, etc.

We can expect federal action making that impossible in the new year.

[underwaterrhymes]

sonrisa 🩵🩷🤍

We love several trans people. My heart is so heavy.

[wise_rita]

How do we know the bad ones in power won't go retroactively mess with the people who've ever made changes?

I have little faith that changing them today means they'll stay changed forever, or that they might be looking at lists of who's made changes.

I'm REALLY sorry to ask that, which will cause fear and stress, but I have little faith that they'll ONLY block future changes and not previous ones.

[Velar Fricative]

The trans people in my life have done so already, thankfully. But now I’m curious to see if there can be a ban on doing this on driver’s licenses since those are state-issued.

Never mind, stupid of me to ask. They’ll try anyway, and have sympathetic courts to back them up.

[sonrisa]

Nov 7, 2024 8:54:19 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

How do we know the bad ones in power won't go retroactively mess with the people who've ever made changes?

I have little faith that changing them today means they'll stay changed forever, or that they might be looking at lists of who's made changes.

I'm REALLY sorry to ask that, which will cause fear and stress, but I have little faith that they'll ONLY block future changes and not previous ones.

I expect they might make X gendered documentation invalid at the federal level.

For those who completed a name and binary gender marker change, it will be harder to track and undo. Lots of people change their name on federal documents because of marriage or other reasons. Retroactively undoing one without the other would take a lot of administrative resources. Might it happen? Sure. But stopping all future changes is almost certainly going to happen. It’s like the people who were married before prop 8 stayed married. But no new marriage licenses were issued until it was overturned.

[sonrisa]

Nov 7, 2024 8:56:25 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

The trans people in my life have done so already, thankfully. But now I’m curious to see if there can be a ban on doing this on driver’s licenses since those are state-issued.

Never mind, stupid of me to ask. They’ll try anyway, and have sympathetic courts to back them up.

yes, drivers license and birth certificate happen at a state level. So it’s already not possible in some places. However, if it is possible. Now is the time. most things in life need multiple forms of ID so you want them to line up. And some states will make changes because of federal pressure. We can expect the federal government to exert influence through funding and other means to push its 2025 goals through.

[penguingineer]

Nov 7, 2024 8:56:25 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

The trans people in my life have done so already, thankfully. But now I’m curious to see if there can be a ban on doing this on driver’s licenses since those are state-issued.

Never mind, stupid of me to ask. They’ll try anyway, and have sympathetic courts to back them up.

You mean ban at the federal level?

Because don’t worry. Arkansas has already banned gender neutral IDs and made it difficult to change your gender on your ID.

abcnews.go.com/US/arkansas-rolls-back-gender-neutral-id-policy/story?id=108077514

[Bad Dingo]

I'm so scared for my six year old niece. I'm sure my sister is on top of it but I messaged her just in case.

[stuffandthings]

Nov 7, 2024 8:42:05 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Now is the time to change name and gender markers on birth certificates, drivers license, passports, social security, etc.

We can expect federal action making that impossible in the new year.

My concern is that if I let my kid get X on their passport then that ruins their chance to "pass" in the event of needing to blend in/get out of the country. Right now, all we would have to do to keep them alive is cut their hair off and tell people to use he/him for them. If we get things officially changed, I'm afraid that puts us on a list somewhere.

[penguingrrl]

Nov 7, 2024 10:12:11 GMT -5 stuffandthings said:

Nov 7, 2024 8:42:05 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Now is the time to change name and gender markers on birth certificates, drivers license, passports, social security, etc.

We can expect federal action making that impossible in the new year.

My concern is that if I let my kid get X on their passport then that ruins their chance to "pass" in the event of needing to blend in/get out of the country. Right now, all we would have to do to keep them alive is cut their hair off and tell people to use he/him for them. If we get things officially changed, I'm afraid that puts us on a list somewhere.

Same here. Fear of this led to us not identifying them as X when they turned 17 and got their drivers license this year. I didn’t want their trans identity in a government database for fear of future safety.

[cville]

I hold you all and your loved ones in my heart.

[kershnic]

I feel like this is the difference between 2016 and now… in 2016 I would have said yes, rush to get it done now. In 2024 I’m not so sure. I think this fundamental shift is something it’s going to take some time to comprehend and react to. I am so scared for the trans people I care about.

[sonrisa]

Nov 7, 2024 10:12:11 GMT -5 stuffandthings said:

Nov 7, 2024 8:42:05 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Now is the time to change name and gender markers on birth certificates, drivers license, passports, social security, etc.

We can expect federal action making that impossible in the new year.

My concern is that if I let my kid get X on their passport then that ruins their chance to "pass" in the event of needing to blend in/get out of the country. Right now, all we would have to do to keep them alive is cut their hair off and tell people to use he/him for them. If we get things officially changed, I'm afraid that puts us on a list somewhere.

this is why we aren’t changing gender for my kid. But for those doing a full binary swap to match their lived identify the risk is different.

[mainelyfoolish]

My 16 year old non-binary kid has had a legal gender (X) & name change (replacement birth certificate was issued) but we were told by Social Security that they have no way to store a non-binary gender, so only the name was changed there.

Kid doesn't have a passport. Now I'm wondering if I need to get them one? We have no plans for international travel.

[breezy8407]

I'm so sorry. This is all so awful.

[tiki]

mainelyfoolish, I've decided to get my cisgender kid a passport asap because I'm not sure how functional the federal government will be down the line.

[Susie]

Nov 7, 2024 11:23:59 GMT -5 mainelyfoolish said:

My 16 year old non-binary kid has had a legal gender (X) & name change (replacement birth certificate was issued) but we were told by Social Security that they have no way to store a non-binary gender, so only the name was changed there.

Kid doesn't have a passport. Now I'm wondering if I need to get them one? We have no plans for international travel.

I'd err on the side of getting one.  There's no harm in having one, and there's a significant potential up side.  Plus at 16 you can get a 10 year adult passport instead of a 5 year kid passport, so there's more chance of being able to use it before it expires.

[gretchenindisguise]

I hate this so much.

My 10yo isn’t ready to make that kind of permanent change. Hopefully if they ever want to as they get older it’s an option. I feel like their age today is a benefit as there is time for things to change for the better while they are still a teenager. My heart goes out to all who are facing more pressing decisions.

[ellipses84]

My brother’s BFF from high school and her roommates are trans, and so is my neighbor’s adult @kid. They are all in their young 20s and live in blue cities/states but they are all terrified. We had the anti-trans 🍊 and other political candidate ads here too. One concern is getting HRT if there’s changes to the FDA, ACA, Medicare/ Medicaid or letting private employers decide to deny for religious reasons. I think this could go similar to the abortion pill where there could be mail options from other states or countries but the Gov’t could try to ban it and we’ll need charities to help with cost.

Here’s some lists of organizations I’m sure could desperately use donations if you have any money to spare right now. These just came up from a Google search so please comment if you know certain ones are better:

www.pointofpride.org/hrt-access-fund#:~:text=Point%20of%20Pride's%20HRT%20Access,known%20as%20%22HRT.%22)

www.folxhealth.com/hrt-care-fund

By state:
www.them.us/story/orgs-fighting-back-anti-trans-legislation

[Michelle]

I hope our trans Americans are accepted as asylees in stable nations. I fear the number of stable nations will decline as Ukraine falls, followed by Georgia and Moldova, and we descend into WWIII. I can't decide if it is safer to be geographically located near the Russian aggression that will be coming from Putin to Europe, or to be geographically located where one faces daily risk of physical and mental harm just for existing.

Based on the riots at Tx State and UT yesterday that were anti-women and anti-LGBTQ, the first scenario is a possibility, but the second scenario is a likelihood.

[bugandbibs]

I am holding everyone in my heart. You and your loved ones are not alone.

[sonrisa]

Counting on asylum or refugee status is not a realistic goal. (Just look at historical precedent and current refugees around the world).

Most people are going to be stuck in their communities, dealing with whatever comes. A few lucky ones will be able to get to a safer state. It’s been happening for years. We just don’t know how safe those safer states will be.

[erbear]

Holding you all in the light. This is devastating ❤️

[Gato]

mainelyfoolish I’d go ahead and get one. We got our kids passports with only a three-week turnaround earlier this year. Canada is reassuringly close to Maine in many directions!

We talked with our nonbinary kid about this after the election. We said if they ever feel unsafe, we can move. But KidA, who is 16, said they have built up a network of like-minded activists here and that support means a lot to them. So for now we stay.

Good point about the name change, OP.