Real ID Act & Its Impact On The Transgender Community

The Real ID Act is set to take effect in May, 2008. Many feel that this law, enacted as a so-called stopgap in the war on terror, is fatally flawed. Firstly, it is another link in the chain of this administration’s campaign to restrict freedom. Wiretaps without FISA approval, the limiting of habeas corpus, examination of financial records of “suspected” terrorists or terrorist sympathizers…executive power, in general, has been stretched and personal freedom for the average American has been limited. The Patriot Act compels libraries to turn over lists of who has checked out books; doctors and attorneys have seen the dilution of confidentiality in that any document transmitted electronically is now fodder for intel.

Over and above the visceral reaction to this intrusion, by the government, into our lives are the practical considerations. What is the basis for thinking that this will present terrorism? There have ALWAYS been ways around the system. Identification cards have been duplicated, successfully, for years, and there is no reason to believe that such will be the case with THIS ID card. Our borders are SO porous…what lends credence to the thought that this act will prevent “homegrown terrorism”. In fact, it can be safely presumed that terrorist cells have already been created and that they are just biding their time.

There is one group, however, that sees the Real ID Act as a major threat: the transgender community. Why is this the case? The rationale behind the Real ID Act is that all forms of ID must “match up”. That includes passports, driver’s licenses, social security cards and birth certificates. Not only must the names match up…so must the gender markers. That means that a TG person who has legally changed her/his name will have to keep the legal name change petition papers on hand at all times. That also means that a TS person who has had gender reassignment surgery, and who has had the gender marker changed on some, but not all, documents, will have to carry all of those documents on their person. Furthermore, by merely carrying these documents with her/him…there is still no assurance that problems will not ensue.

What kinds of problems, you might ask? Without appropriately matching ID, a person can be denied entry into a public…local, state or federal…facility. A person can be denied a National ID card and may be prevented from driving. Someone with an inconsistent set of ID’s may be taken out of line while intending to fly on an airplane. Or, a person in this circumstance may be denied her/his right to vote. These are draconian repercussions, all of which can affect a person who is decidedly NOT a terrorist. It would seem that part of the intent of this Real ID Act would be to alienate and cull out those persons the government believes would potentially subvert the “American Way”. We have already seen that they consider the LGBT community as second-class citizens. This is another attempt to disenfranchise a group who this administration contends will destroy family values.

We still have a year to fight the implantation of this legislation. The State of Maine has already refused compliance. Georgia, New Mexico, Washington, Montana and Wyoming all are moving in the direction of doing the same. If this makes it to the U.S. Supreme Court, it will be the latest in a long history of state’s rights issues. The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution clearly states that any powers not delegated to the Federal Government, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states, respectively, or to the people. There is NO sensible reasoning that would make this a federal issue…not even the Commerce Clause, which I believe would be the only viable method.

This will certainly be contentious, but there is a lot at stake. The rights of the transgender and transsexual communities hang in the balance. We fear our rights will disappear if this Real ID Act actually takes effect. We have a year to let our legislators…state and federal…know how we feel. Speak up now, before you lose the right to do so!!

trickster108