Hey all, it's kelli Busey blogger at planetransgender. If you actually watch this video without falling asleep, wow, awesome! I wanted to reach out in the most personal way I could on my birthday and connect with you to say thank you for reading planetransgender.
You made it! Quick change the channel before the video rewinds!
6/15/13
6/14/13
Social Security Administration (SSA) No Longer Requiring Surgery or BC for Gender Marker Change!
I went to the Texas SSA office on a hot Friday August afternoon in 2007 on a mission. My terminal manager was getting pressure from the main office to correct a discrepancy in an employees records. My record. I am a MTF whose gender was unrecognized by the SSA. Within a month his requests had turned into a demand. I had to get the SSA to stop sending the payroll department gender"no match" letters or risk losing my job.
I had been able to change everything except my birth state, Ohio, does not amend or reissue birth certificates for transsexuals. Since I was pre op and couldn't produce proof of SRS I was left with only one option. A friend had told me I might be able to get the change through on the QT, as she did, if I did it as directed. So I passively, submissively approached the SSA window after a short 3 hour wait, smiling in my most pleasant feminine way and explained what I wanted.
Well long story short the clerk produced the regulation denying my gender marker change a couple of hours later and I left unsuccessful and soon to be unemployed. A couple of years later after Obama was elected he directed the SSA to stop sending out those no match letters, but that was too late for me. I lost a $900 a week job because of that bureaucratic bullshit.
And I know I'm only one among thousands of trans people who have had their jobs put in jeopardy thanks to a government which seemed to not care.
I have great news! My brothers and sisters, you will not have to become unemployed and homeless as I did to satisfy that antiquated bureaucratic rule.
According to The National Center For Transgender Equality as of June:
Social Security will accept any of the following forms of evidence for a gender marker change:
• A U.S. passport showing the correct gender,
• A birth certificate showing the correct gender,
• A court order recognizing the correct gender, or
• A signed letter from a [provider] confirming that you have had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition
You can view the official SSA regulation here.
I had been able to change everything except my birth state, Ohio, does not amend or reissue birth certificates for transsexuals. Since I was pre op and couldn't produce proof of SRS I was left with only one option. A friend had told me I might be able to get the change through on the QT, as she did, if I did it as directed. So I passively, submissively approached the SSA window after a short 3 hour wait, smiling in my most pleasant feminine way and explained what I wanted.
Well long story short the clerk produced the regulation denying my gender marker change a couple of hours later and I left unsuccessful and soon to be unemployed. A couple of years later after Obama was elected he directed the SSA to stop sending out those no match letters, but that was too late for me. I lost a $900 a week job because of that bureaucratic bullshit.
And I know I'm only one among thousands of trans people who have had their jobs put in jeopardy thanks to a government which seemed to not care.
I have great news! My brothers and sisters, you will not have to become unemployed and homeless as I did to satisfy that antiquated bureaucratic rule.
According to The National Center For Transgender Equality as of June:
Social Security will accept any of the following forms of evidence for a gender marker change:
• A U.S. passport showing the correct gender,
• A birth certificate showing the correct gender,
• A court order recognizing the correct gender, or
• A signed letter from a [provider] confirming that you have had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition
You can view the official SSA regulation here.
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