With all the furore about public restrooms I’m genuinely confused as to the legal definition of gender in the States. Is there a legal status or is it purely a matter of personal choice, irrespective of operations, lifestyle or anything else? In other words if I were an American citizen, a male, and felt I were a woman within could I insist on being dealt with as a woman by the governmnent simply on my own assertion? Or would I have to somehow back that assertion up? Does the law vary state by state or is self-definition a constitutional right? If my sense of gender were fluid from one day to the next would that affect my rights, if any?
Clearly self-definition does not cover some things. You can’t as a white man say that you feel you’re really black and then take advantage of laws meant to assist blacks and other minorities. But should it? What’s so different about race and gender?
Just to clarify, I do not have a conservative stance on restroom choice by transgenders. Safety should be the paramount consideration for all concerned.
It varies by state. States that allow people to change their legal gender generally require documentation of some form of gender reassignment surgery (often top surgery for trans men, vaginoplasty for trans women).
Massachusetts recently changed from this policy to one of self-identification, with evidence of surgery (which many trans people can’t afford) no longer required. Other states may have done this as well. Not sure.
Why the state has an interest in regulating gender identity is an intriguing question, given the elimination of virtually all gender-defined legal restrictions in the U.S. and other countries. With same-sex marriage, the elimination of the ban on women in combat, and so forth, there’s far less reason for the government to care much which gender we identify with. Rights don’t vary much if at all by gender. Or need not.
Note that you can kind of “trick” the state in many cases. They really don’t look too closely at exactly what the surgery was, just that it was trans related. Oftentimes you can get some cheap trans-related surgery (like really minor facial feminization like a tracheal shave to reduce the adam’s apple) and sometimes they’ll accept it. This is still a problem for Trans men, though, because Trans men basically have top surgery and not much else (FtM genital reconstruction is… dodgy at best); this is largely due to how amazingly effective testosterone is.
School bathrooms. It’s a big deal in CA for transgendered youth. Schools are now required to allow students to use the bathroom of their gender identification which, AFAIK, is self-identified.
Yes, of course. But the OP was asking about legal gender identity. and whether or not it was based on self-identification, which in most states in the U.S. it is not.
It may be a relief to some that gender self-identification is not just a spur-of-the-moment whim – “I think I’ll be a girl today and use the girl’s bathroom.” It requires formal school registration and a ton of paperwork. Nobody is going to spend that kind of time filling our forms just for a lark.
Certain American Indian tribes also made allowances for both transmen and transwomen. It was a little unusual, but but not threatening to their society.
This might be more of a GQ, but it’s relevant to private entities, and I’m not sure how they treat it - or if there are rules on how they’re required to treat it.
For example, suppose a former man informs his insurance companies that she is a transwoman and wants to pay lower rates for his auto or life insurance. Do they honor that (or have to)?
There are a few gender-defined restrictions, legal or social, still left, such as bathrooms and locker rooms - which is why we’re seeing laws involving those lately. And why it’s still a difficult issue.
And if the insurance company demands some kind of proof to avoid fraud, is that acceptable? What proof would suffice? And if the insurance company says it’s research shows that sex, not gender, determines driving safety and so it only bases its policies on actual genetics and not identity, is that wrong, or illegal? Should it be?
If gender identity requires some sort of “proof,” what would that entail? For people who don’t have sex re-assignment surgery, how would one go about proving they really do consider themselves the opposite gender of their sex?
I don’t know if that’s true. Elizabeth Warren said she was Native American without any real repercussions. She even got to be a Senator. Rachel Dolezal lost her NAACP position I suppose, so there’s that. There was also Shaun King, Ron Wilson, Mark Stebbins, and probably others. What makes you think that white men can’t say that they feel black and take advantage of laws meant to assist blacks? Is there some a legal penalty that they risk suffering?