The Illusion Of Success

Saturday October 21, 2006

Yesterday I had intended to write about the inpact we have in our communities by "telling our stories". That will have to wait until tomorrow...

Today I need to write about the illusory nature of success, or how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I had received my therapist's letter this past week indicating that I was in the "process of procedure" regarding my transition and that I was entitled to have the "M" on my driver's license amended to an "F". The same regulation was cited to me, as had been done the first time I requested an approproate gender marker, with the exception that I now had an examiner dictate the precise language of said regulation:

"If the customer desires to change sex on the driver's license or identification card, a court order or a physician's statement verifying procedure must be presented."

This is somewhat different from the assurance we received from the DMV in Raleigh, NC, in which we had been told that a state certified professional needed to assert that the patient was in the process of procedure. Of course, with the revelation that this is NOT what the regulation states, it is apparent that the word "procedure" is being interpreted to signify "surgical procedure".

What is most infuriating is the fact that we had been assured by the DMV in Raleigh that this issue had been resolved. Well...I am continually being educated, or reeducated, as the case may be, and I made the cardinal errors of ASSUMING that the department was being truthful and of not having received any assurance in writing. When it comes to official state or federal departments, or governments, we much be wary at all times. Out alleged success had been too easy and the flags should have gone up immediately. In our desire to believe that progress had been made, we were duped into accepting a temporary placation as a substitute for real, bona fide success.

I remain undaunted. There was a part of me who had wondered at the ease of this concession and who had thought that seeing would be believing. I will continue to pursue this issue with the state department of mental health, as well as with the NC affilate to the APA BEFORE I return to the DMV. As long as gender identity disorder is a diagnosable mental condition, according to the DSM4, agencies need to (read that MUST BE) amenable to the recommended course of treatment which has been acknowledged to be the Harry Benjamin Standards of Care.

By the HBSOC, we are advised that we need life experience before we may have gender reassignment surgery. We must live and work, for 12 months, in the apporpriate gender. This clearly creates a "catch 22". If we are unemployed, we cannot find work because of the disparity between our appearance and the letter on our DL. Without a job, we are consigned to poverty wherein we will NEVER be able to afford our surgeries. And, of course, without surgery we can never have our driver's license amended with the appropriate gender marker so we can find work.

Of course, this is the government which delights in perpetuating "catch 22's". This is not only a bureaucratic snafu, it becomes the perfect vehicle for those who refuse to acknowledge the reality of the GLBT community to hide their bigotry behind rules and regulations. We would be deceiving ourselves if we perceived this any differently. Lawmakers, bureauocrats and their lackies, with their disapproving eyes, and their self righteous judgments, will find a way to perpetuate their exclusionary agendas. They have made the incorrect assumption that we can be pressured and legislated into obscurity. Their hope is that the more they marginalize or exclude us, the greater is the chance that we will just go away.


I AM NOT GOING AWAY!!!

trickster108