Trans Rights in Denmark

Photo: Me aka La Douchebag// My First Duck Face Pose The struggles I face living as a transgender individual in Denmark. Currently I am stuck with 2 different legal identities. America recognizes me, but Denmark refuses. This leaves me in a tough spot when it comes to paying taxes, opening a bank account, or traveling. I'm taking a stand against 2 requirements the health board enforces: Being diagnosed as having a mental condition. The castration law, which is an old law for sex offenders back in the 1930's. There is also another way around addressing these issues. Stop making CPR #'s and Names gender based!

[transseksuel-blog]

Me helping launch Amnesty's new report about transgender rights in Europe.  It was an amazing experience that has already changed my life.  Thanks to Amnesty International for giving me the opportunity to use my voice :)

You can read their report on discrimination against transgender people in the European Union

[transseksuel-blog]

My blog entry is up on Amnesty's site :)

[transseksuel-blog]

The irony: The health minister on the front of a paper saying 'men should go to the doctor more', while I pay out of pocket to get medical treatment.  I couldn't help myself, so now Astrid is sporting a pretty sweet mustache ;)

[truscum-girlfriend-deactivated2]

This is so ridiculous. Lol!

It’s not legal for my boyfriend to have a male name, yet it’s perfectly legal to name your kids with these names… I don’t know if someone think the names are just fine, but they’re EXTREMELY odd in Denmark, where names usually don’t even mean anything. It’s pretty...

[transseksuel-blog]

Oh lord, I didn't realize how ridiculous the Danish name law really was until today!!  Maybe I can change my name to 'awesome' someday, lol

[transseksuel-blog]

Politiske partier til Pride

Lavet af Oliver Panthera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xr6EyIcYVY

[transseksuel-blog]

Russians film brutal video of attack on transgender woman

A new video has surfaced of 5 Russian men participating in the brutal beating of a trans woman. The police typically do nothing in response. #olympics

For fuck's sake!  I'm so fucking pissed off!!  What complete and utter pieces of shits!

[transseksuel-blog]

August 6th, 2013: The Day I Said Something Nice About Astrid Krag

Here is what Astrid Krag(The Danish Health Minister) posted on Facebook today.  This is a statement from the health minister saying being transgendered is not psychological disorder.

Transkønnede er mennesker med en uoverensstemmelse mellem deres oplevede køn og deres fysiske køn. Sådan er der forholdsvist mange mennesker, der har det – i forskellige grader og på forskellige måder. For de fleste er det en situation de håndterer i hverdagen uden større problemer. For andre bliver det desværre kilden til både psykiske og sociale problemer. Men det er vigtigt at holde fast i, at man ikke er syg, blot fordi man er transkønnet. Derfor er det godt, at fremtidens læger (som man kan læse i artiklen nedenfor) bliver præsenteret for et mere nuanceret billede af, hvad det vil sige at være transkønnet. Og derfor arbejder jeg både nationalt og internationalt (denne gang i modsætning til hvad man kan læse i samme artikel) med at få sundhedsvæsnets begreber og registreringer til at afspejle, hvad der bør være ’common sense’ i Nordeuropa anno 2013; nemlig at man ikke er forstyrret i hovedet, fordi man er født i en forkert krop.

  Basically, she is referencing to how they are changing what medical students are taught about transgender people. (you can read about it here: http://www.etik.dk/artikel/520033:Prioritering-i-sundhedsvaesenet--Laegeuddannelse-aendrer-definition-af-transkoennede)

What stands out to me is how she ends her statement by saying that medical terms and registrations should be changed to the common sense approach that of course you're not disturbed just because you're born in the wrong body. 

Sådan Astrid!

[transseksuel-blog]

Transgender people are a blessing

Thank God for transgender persons and their families, who exemplify the amazing beauty of the divine creation in all its complexity and rich diversity. It is a blessing to share community with our transgender sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and fathers and mothers and to work alongside them to ...

Not religious, but still teared up and moved by these words.

[cloudyskiesandcatharsis]

On the morning of September 4, 1957, fifteen-year-old Dorothy Counts set out on a harrowing path toward Harding High, where-as the first African American to attend the all-white school – she was greeted by a jeering swarm of boys who spat, threw trash, and yelled epithets at her as she entered the building.

Charlotte Observer photographer Don Sturkey captured the ugly incident on film, and in the days that followed, the searing image appeared not just in the local paper but in newspapers around the world.

People everywhere were transfixed by the girl in the photograph who stood tall, her five-foot-ten-inch frame towering nobly above the mob that trailed her. There, in black and white, was evidence of the brutality of racism, a sinister force that had led children to torment another child while adults stood by. While the images display a lot of evils: prejudice, ignorance, racism, sexism, inequality, it also captures true strength, determination, courage and inspiration.

[bellecs]

Here she is, age 70, still absolutely elegant and poised.

[transseksuel-blog]

One word: Courage. 

[baeddelshinsgirl]

At 5 you’re too young because 5 year olds believe they’re superman. At 11 you’re too young because puberty hasn’t set in yet. At 16 you’re too young because puberty hormones mess with everyone. At 18 you’re too young for the same reason. And after 18 you’re too old because if you were really trans you would have said something by now.What people really want is for trans people to stop existing so we stop challenging the common, incorrect idea that men and women are as separate and uncrossable as if they were separate species.

A Widdershins Girl: Transphobic logic (via theselfmademen)

[transseksuel-blog]

Happy 4th from Denmark

[theartoftransliness]

Snagged from Ryan Sallans on facebook, 

“A study on short-term use of hormone therapy has been released showing there are not harmful side effects or risks. A colleague/doctor that I work with has noted that other research is showing no increased health risks with long-term hormone therapy use either. This is good, very good.”

[transseksuel-blog]

:)

[ryansallans]

US Social Security Administration Changes Policy on Changing Gender

No longer will the Social Security Administration require surgery to change a person’s gender within their database.

Following guidelines put forward by both the federal government for passport changes, and many States’ DMV, individuals can have their gender changed by sending a letter from their medical provider (a sample is shown within the following link) https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0110212200

[mormon-face]

I wish Denmark would do the same.

[transseksuel-blog]

Since I was born in Hawaii, I was able to change my birth certificate pretty effortlessly, which makes changing all other documents easy.  This law will help people who live in states that are backwards(here's looking at you Kansas). 

[transseksuel-blog]

My Wednesday Rant

I'm not even sure what the purpose of this blog is, but every now and then I just need to rant.  I wrote this on my lunch break while listening to 'Unnatural Selection' by Muse... which probably explains the sudden anger I felt inside, lol.  

To the Danish Health Board + Danish Politicians, Bite me. You literally look at my birth certificate, my passport, all of my American identity paperwork and reject it.  Yet, you let me live here as an immigrant, based on my American identity. When I file taxes in my home country, I have to send an additional piece of paper from your government that basically says 'Josh is really Josh, but we don't recognize his name or gender here'.   It's really nice to out yourself every year to the IRS, so thanks assholes.  Your hypocrisy reeks.   You would have accepted my paperwork, no questions asked, if I would have had it updated before I filed my immigration paperwork.  Now that I am in your system, I am stuck in it.  I can't even move away and re-immigrate.  If the end result is the same, does it really matter what order it happens in?  I picked love over my transition and am paying the ultimate price. If I was to follow the rules as a foreigner, I am only missing being sterilized and having it verified by a Danish gynecologist.   This is something that I simply can not accept.   I don't want the parts that are inside of me, that's been established since I was a child,  but I refuse to go along with a law that is SO dirty.  A law that was made for sex offenders and perverts.  You only want to sterilize transgender people to prevent them from their right to start a family.   I had 3 kids with my gay best friend and they are the best thing in this whole world.  I did not find being pregnant and all that goes along with it beautiful or glorious.  It was horrible and terrible, but I was damn sure going to get my money's worth from the body I hated so much.

If only this wasn't actually my life, it would be a little funny. This leaves me with you forcing me to be something I'm not. Awwww, yes, the irony... I'm now legally trans. I get the privilege of explaining to everyone, over and over again, why Denmark gives me the wrong name, gender, CPR# and why my world identity says something else.

The requirements you have established for transgender individuals are almost laughable. Here are some of my favorite highlights.

1. Being diagnosed with 'gender identity disorder'. Isn't it funny when a transgender person says they have the wrong body, everybody wants their brain to be mentally evaluated. For fuck's sake, how hard is this to understand.Pick up a paper, it's 2013. You are born trans, period. It's like being born without legs and having politicians encourage you to take the stairs.

2. No penis. A legal gender change for FTMs in Denmark requires no surgical alterations to their parts, yet MTFs need removal of everything and fashioned to resemble a labia. Bottom line, as long as no one comes out of it with a penis, everything is good to go.

3. The sterilization/Catch 22. Takes away the persons right to have biological kids. When you combine it with being diagnosed as having GID, you are really fucked, because adoption is then off the table. You can't adopt with a mental illness.

In a nutshell: You are the bully in my life and my kids lives. You won't let me live my life in fucking peace, because you have fucked up ideals about how people 'should' live life. Me being trans does not effect you or your family, yet you support laws that effect my family every day. So, basically, kiss my ass :) Sincerely, Josh Bryan

[transseksuel-blog]

[mettebryan-blog]

Denne artikel er fra februar 2013, men er absolut ikke uaktuel. Den er særlig interessant, fordi psykolog Rikke Kildevæld Simonsen fra Sexologisk Klinik kommer med en række udtalelser. Det er sjældent, man hører dem udtale sig direkte i medierne, og normalt ville jeg bare hælde en spand ukvemsord ned over hende, da de mennesker om nogen kan få mit pis i kog. I stedet vil jeg i bedste psykolog stil tage de akademiske briller på og gennemgå hendes udtalelser én for én. Jeg tænker, at hvis tilstrækkeligt mange mennesker begynder at sætte spørgsmålstegn ved udtalelser fra SK og Christiansborg, er der måske håb om at rykke noget, om ikke andet så hos den almindelige dansker.

Det bliver ret langt, så jeg deler det op i en række indlæg.Here we go:

- Det er store operationer, man skal igennem, og det er et følsomt område, man skærer i. Vores opgave er at gøre folk deres valg bevidst. At hjælpe dem med at opveje fordele og ulemper.

Der er et par ting i vejen med den udtalelse:

Man SKAL ikke nødvendigvis igennem operationer, det er efter eget ønske og varierer fra person til person, hvad man vil have lavet. Når hun henviser til det ‘følsomme’ område, må jeg antage at hun snakker om folks genitalier. Der er mange transkønnede, særligt FTMer, der helt fravælger bottom surgery af den ene eller anden årsag. Det er udelukkende SK og lovgivningen bagved dem, der stiller det som et krav at der skal foretages særlige typer operationer, hvis man gerne vil have sit køn anerkendt og kunne færdes i fred i det offentlige Danmark. Det er derfor uheldigt, at Rikke Kildevæld her generaliserer om operationer, da det er med til at fastholde det stereotype billede af, hvad en transkønnet er og burde ønske af operationer.

At gøre folk deres valg bevidst og snakke fordele/ulemper ligner meget det, man kan kalde informeret samtykke. Man går til læge/psykolog med sit ønske, og de snakker stille og roligt tingene igennem med én, før man siger “ja, jeg er indforstået med de ulemper, der måtte være”. Og så står man i øvrigt selv til ansvar for sin beslutning. Problemer her er, at det ikke i virkeligheden er SKs tilgang. Der er utallige vidneudsagn fra T-miljøet, der bekræfter at det primære formål med samtalerne og observationsforløbet er at så tvivl om ønsket, mistænkeliggøre ansøgeren og tale dem fra idéen om et kønsskifte.

Tilbage står så spørgsmålet om, hvorvidt der er en fornuftig begrundelse for at bruge det offentliges ressourcer i op til 4 år per individ for i sidste ende IKKE at foretage sig noget. Det har jeg endnu ikke set SK udtale sig om.

[youneverknoww]

At hun udtaler sig på den måde, ser jeg som ‘bare for at få det til ar se godt ud’-agtigt. At hendes ord er noget, men de er ikke handlinger. Så må man da kalde mig fordomsfuld for SK og alle derinde, men når jeg har hørt _så_ meget dårligt og negativt, så vil jeg ikke selv vove mig derind. Og fordi jeg/vi ikke er økonomisk på randen, så er det klart en mulighed at gå ad de private veje. RKS siger det kun for at få det til at lyde godt. Som om, det rent faktisk _er_ godt derinde. Folk siger, at det er blevet bedre. Det kan da godt være, men det betyder ikke, at jeg vil vove mig derind alligevel. Man går jo ikke ind i helvede bare for at prøve det?

[transseksuel-blog]

Well said :)

[mettebryan-blog]

http://ekstrabladet.dk/112/article2000095.ece#_=

The media reported that a ‘man’ had been assaulted with a hammer (!) in brad daylight by Tivoli. Turns out, the so called man is a MTF. Completely despicable and horrifying hate crime. I hope they string the guilty party up by their balls. BUT, again you see the lack of respect in how a person is referenced in the media because of the whole CPR issue. EB called her a transvestite, and TV2 simply referred to her as a ‘man’. How depressing :( I hope she is okay. 

CHANGE THE FUCKING CPR LAW NOW!!!!!