April 14, 2000	CA transgender bills pass first hurdles Change for the Better Bills to Ban Bias, Streamline Altering of Birth Certificates Would Help Transgendered Persons On the heels of last year's passage of several landmark gay rights bills, California's transgendered population is seeking its own legislative gains. The California Assembly has recently moved two important transgendered-related bills through their first committee hurdles. One bill would bestow anti-discrimination protection while the other would simplify the process of changing vital legal records after sex changes. AB 2142, by Fred Keeley, D-Monterey Bay, adds "gender and perceived gender" as a protected category under the Freedom of Housing and Employment Act (FEHA). FEHA was amended last year to include "sexual orientation." "This makes for a big clarification in the law," Jon Davidson of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said of the newly proposed amendment. "This bill uses hate crime law to define gender as a perception of appearance, attitude and behavior. If the person committing the violation perceives the victim as an apparently different gender than that of their original birth gender, or unacceptable to their own stereotypes of gender acceptability, they will have broken the law." "You can see," he asserted, "that this is important not only from the perspective of the transgender community, but also that of those who suffer from gender bias and stereotyping on the job [whether it is a] masculine woman or effeminate man. This makes it clear that to discriminate is wrong." This new amendment to FEHA was presented to the Assembly in February and was scheduled for an April 12 hearing in the Assembly's Labor and Employment Committee. Because Democrats hold six of the nine seats on that committee, its chances of advancing were good. All those interviewed for this article urged, however, that constituents call their representatives to encourage support for this bill as it makes its way through the legislative process. AB 1851, by Assemblyman John Longeville, D-San Bernardino, provides new rules and guidelines under which transgendered persons can make essential changes in birth certificates. Currently, California law allows such changes, but transgendered persons still run into roadblocks in their efforts. "While Californians can now change their birth certificate to reflect a new sexual identity, it is difficult, and sometimes impossible to do," said Kristin Wingate, Longeville's legislative consultant. "We will change that with this bill." Davidson said, "This bill allows the court here to issue a 'certificate of sex change' that, when accompanying other documents, can expedite the essential changes necessary." The bill went through the Health committee unanimously on March 15, surprising even the sponsor. "We thought one or two of the right-wingers would object, as they do anytime anything having to do with sexual orientation or identity is brought up," chuckled Wingate. "But unanimous works for us." Reaction to the bills in the transgendered community was universally supportive. "We suffer from more discrimination than anyone," declared Desiree Diamond, an activist who volunteers at the J.W. Griffith Youth Center. "We can't get jobs, keep jobs, or nothin'. That's why so many sisters end up workin' the street! And my ID still says I'm a man!" Unfortunately, according to Dr. Cathy Reback, a researcher in the field, sex work has been one of very few ways that male-to-female transgendered persons could make livings after their operations. "Because it is difficult to, let's say, reverse processes, male-to-females often carry physical vestiges of their former sexual identity. Females-to-males have an easier time of it in the job market, but not by much. Discrimination is universal and we need a bill like this to set things straight, so to speak." Riki Wilchins, president of GenderPac, a national political action committee dedicated to redressing gender inequities in federal law, said, "What is important in getting the right sex and name on a driver's license isn't just the annoyance involved, or some minor inconvenience because it doesn't match your appearance. The tragedy is the discrimination that the mismatch engenders and nurtures. Imagine, you're already under the eye of suspicion because they want to see your license in the first place. Then their carriage, their demeanor, their attitude changes slowly and soon, they have developed a bias against you because you don't match their idea of gender stereotype." Reback has conducted research on transgendered persons under a University of California grant. She interviewed 244 male-to-female transgendered persons over the age of 18 for the study. Of those interviewed, 47 percent said they had trouble getting work because of their gender or perceived gender status; 47 percent had been physically abused or beaten due to gender or perceived gender; 30 percent were denied housing; and 29 percent had lost jobs because of their gender. Reback noted that the abuse figure did not include domestic partner abuse. Jeffery Dickemann, a San Francisco resident and transgendered activist, spoke of the difficulties facing transgendered persons in getting essential documentation. "I went through the process after my surgery. It was a nightmare. I had to go to another county to change my birth certificate, and the DMV [Department of Motor Vehicles] has a paper you can use, but the local office didn't have it and I had to get it mailed. Then, when I tried to get a passport, well, they said I had to wait five years after the birth certificate was changed. Can you imagine being forced to stay here in the country only because you changed your sex?" He laughed and then said, "I guess there's a TG mole in the State Department, though. I got my passport soon after. Not everybody is that lucky, though." - -Ryan Gierach Thank you for subscribing to Gender Advocacy Internet News (GAIN), a free Internet news service, brought to you courtesty of Gender Education and Advocacy, and It's Time, America! Material distributed via GAIN is for research and educational purposes only and is not to be used for commercial gain.
	Frontiers Newsmagazine April 14, 2000 http://www.frontiersweb.com When re-posting material, please include all credits. Visit the GAIN news archive at http://www.gender.org/gain/
	[home] - [info.] - [links] - [list] - [e-mail] Arctic Fox DesignEmail: webmaster@ftminfo.net