Yes, it's official. Drivers in Virginia-be sure to fasten your seatbelts because DJ earned her driver's permit today. It is glorious seeing her succeed in another area of getting her life back on track. It is not so glorious rubbing Ben Gay on my neck after she stalled the standard shift pick-up truck about ten times trying to master getting it into the elusive first gear, however. Actually, I don't mind at all. She did a great job for her first time ever behind the wheel, not counting the tractor, of course.
High five for DJ!!!
For another reason: her driver's permit/license reads with her legal name and her gender is identified appropriately as F- yes, that's right. FEMALE. And in the incredibly conservative state of Virginia, no less. I never would have though it possible but Virginia has made it possible for pre-operative, or post-operative transgender folks to have their gender correctly identified on one's Driver's license. My wording might be a bit confusing: one does NOT have to be in the process of attempting surgery, only that it allows folks who are trangender without having surgery to obtain the license correctly AND it also allows folks to change their license if they obtained it bearing the genetic gender, had surgery, and want to change it post-surgery to accurately reflect their insides, and outsides.
Those of you who live in Virginia-this is how you do it. Go to your DMV and ask for a Customer Medical Report form. It's possible you can get one by going online to www.dmvNow.com. Follow the instructions and complete the form. The drawback is you will need a healthcare professional to confirm that you are being treated for Gender Dysphoria. You then submit that form to the DMV in Richmond. We also submitted letters from the therapist and DJ's surgeon stating she was under their care. I will scan a copy of the letter DJ's surgeon wrote. Feel free to use the wording. Disc Jockey came up with it and we copied and pasted it and sent it to DJ's surgeon where she could put it on her letterhead, sign it and mail it to us.
The Medical Review Services committee is supposed to make their decision in two weeks and should send you a letter granting you permission to have the gender with which you identify noted on your license. You take that letter to the DMV, along with other documentation to include any legal name change paperwork, your birth certificate, even if it's in your previous name, as long as you can show provide the paperwork that it was legally changed, your social security number, and if you're a minor, your parent's driver's license, along with their signature. Hopefully, you will have your parents' support, or even just one parent's support, in this. If you have trouble, the phone number for the Virginia Medical Review Services desk is (804) 367-6203.
If you don't live in Virginia, consider looking up the medical guidelines for the department of motor vehicles in your state.
Remember, however, in most states, as I understand it, your birth certificate gender will remain as the gender identified at birth based on your physical presentation at that time, until gender confirmation surgery in most states. But, once you get a legal name change through your local court system, then it's a matter of filling out an application and sending a check for about $25 to have your name legally changed on your birth certificate too. Yes, passports are issued based on birth certificate information, but if you have not had gender confirmation surgery, but do have a driver's license with the appropriate gender identified on it, then when you apply for your passport, have your picture taken as you normally live and present. While the passport may not reflect the correct gender, the picture will, your driver's license will and hopefully you can avoid disaster at the airport. But just to be safe, carry a copy of the letter from your therapist or healthcare provider, a copy of which I will provide below, that you can present to any official who is questioning the fact that the gender on your passport does not agree with your presentation and/or your driver's license. You want to stack the deck in your favor to make traveling by air as stress free as possible.
Whoda thunk The Commonwealth of Virginia would provide a way for non-mainstream folk ? Not this author. Virginia, I applaud you on this one.
Please find below, at the very bottom of the screen, on a brown backdrop, a scan of a "carry letter" that Disc Jockey recommended for DJ to make use of when necessary. Do not include what is in parenthesis in your letter. I don't think I should have to mention that, but you never know what people are thinking if they're anxious for success. I recommend you have your therapist or healthcare provider print it on his/her letterhead, and have at least a couple of copies bearing his/her original signature and a number of photocopies. Keep one on your person if you feel like you may ever need it.
High five for DJ!!!
For another reason: her driver's permit/license reads with her legal name and her gender is identified appropriately as F- yes, that's right. FEMALE. And in the incredibly conservative state of Virginia, no less. I never would have though it possible but Virginia has made it possible for pre-operative, or post-operative transgender folks to have their gender correctly identified on one's Driver's license. My wording might be a bit confusing: one does NOT have to be in the process of attempting surgery, only that it allows folks who are trangender without having surgery to obtain the license correctly AND it also allows folks to change their license if they obtained it bearing the genetic gender, had surgery, and want to change it post-surgery to accurately reflect their insides, and outsides.
Those of you who live in Virginia-this is how you do it. Go to your DMV and ask for a Customer Medical Report form. It's possible you can get one by going online to www.dmvNow.com. Follow the instructions and complete the form. The drawback is you will need a healthcare professional to confirm that you are being treated for Gender Dysphoria. You then submit that form to the DMV in Richmond. We also submitted letters from the therapist and DJ's surgeon stating she was under their care. I will scan a copy of the letter DJ's surgeon wrote. Feel free to use the wording. Disc Jockey came up with it and we copied and pasted it and sent it to DJ's surgeon where she could put it on her letterhead, sign it and mail it to us.
The Medical Review Services committee is supposed to make their decision in two weeks and should send you a letter granting you permission to have the gender with which you identify noted on your license. You take that letter to the DMV, along with other documentation to include any legal name change paperwork, your birth certificate, even if it's in your previous name, as long as you can show provide the paperwork that it was legally changed, your social security number, and if you're a minor, your parent's driver's license, along with their signature. Hopefully, you will have your parents' support, or even just one parent's support, in this. If you have trouble, the phone number for the Virginia Medical Review Services desk is (804) 367-6203.
If you don't live in Virginia, consider looking up the medical guidelines for the department of motor vehicles in your state.
Remember, however, in most states, as I understand it, your birth certificate gender will remain as the gender identified at birth based on your physical presentation at that time, until gender confirmation surgery in most states. But, once you get a legal name change through your local court system, then it's a matter of filling out an application and sending a check for about $25 to have your name legally changed on your birth certificate too. Yes, passports are issued based on birth certificate information, but if you have not had gender confirmation surgery, but do have a driver's license with the appropriate gender identified on it, then when you apply for your passport, have your picture taken as you normally live and present. While the passport may not reflect the correct gender, the picture will, your driver's license will and hopefully you can avoid disaster at the airport. But just to be safe, carry a copy of the letter from your therapist or healthcare provider, a copy of which I will provide below, that you can present to any official who is questioning the fact that the gender on your passport does not agree with your presentation and/or your driver's license. You want to stack the deck in your favor to make traveling by air as stress free as possible.
Whoda thunk The Commonwealth of Virginia would provide a way for non-mainstream folk ? Not this author. Virginia, I applaud you on this one.
Please find below, at the very bottom of the screen, on a brown backdrop, a scan of a "carry letter" that Disc Jockey recommended for DJ to make use of when necessary. Do not include what is in parenthesis in your letter. I don't think I should have to mention that, but you never know what people are thinking if they're anxious for success. I recommend you have your therapist or healthcare provider print it on his/her letterhead, and have at least a couple of copies bearing his/her original signature and a number of photocopies. Keep one on your person if you feel like you may ever need it.
Trans issues aside, I think it's great that you're teaching her to drive a stick. Despite much yelling and many tears, I was able to teach my own daughter how to do it twenty years ago. We both now remember those driving lessons as some of the best times we ever had together. Guys dig chicks who drive sticks!
ReplyDeleteWay to go DJ! And now to learn the fine arts of "fist wavin'" and "horn blastin'".
ReplyDeleteYou'll see! She'll be a pro in no time ;-P
Hope you're all well.
She is very lucky that Virginia will put F on her license. Where I am in the deep south they require surgery first. You should know; however, that you can get the gender on your passport changed without surgery and without any recognition by the state you live in.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.transequality.org/Resources/passports_2011.pdf
Thanks for sharing-I'll put that on the blog too!!!
DeleteI taught my son how to drive a stick shift. It cost me a clutch but we got 'er done! :)
ReplyDeleteThat's great post. Changing Your Name in PA
ReplyDelete