To any cis people following me that don’t understand why the possible change to the legal definition of gender in this country can and will ruin lives, I want to explain. I live in Tennessee, which, if you’re not aware, is the only state in which statute specifically forbids the changing of gender markers for a citizen (note that in Kansas and Idaho it is also not allowed, but it’s not specifically forbidden, and there are currently legal battles being fought over the issue).
As a trans person in Tennessee, I cannot change my legal gender in /any/ situation. I will always be a “male” in the eyes of the legal system, to the school system, to my workplace, etc. This is a constant no matter what I look like, what my “transition status” is; it literally doesn’t matter. If I am ever arrested, I will be brought to men’s jail or even men’s prison. The officer and the warden won’t look at me or my safety, they’ll look at my license and that alone. Understand the risk of violence and rape this puts me under, even though I am not involved in any sort of criminal activity, this is a constant threat I’m under as long as I live in the state.
Since there are, thankfully, no other obvious legal sanctions against the trans community of Tennessee, I can aim for a fairly traditional life trajectory while transitioning. I have an entry level job, I’m in college, and I even got hormone replacement through informed consent, which is legal in the state.
Despite this, my entry level job is just that: an entry level job. I make less than 9 dollars an hour and get fairly irregular shifts, which is absolutely impossible to live on. Understand that my trans status makes both this entry level job more difficult and impossible to get hired in any better employment. I get called slurs by coworkers constantly, including by management. Despite this terrible job, every attempt I’ve had at applying to other jobs has been shot down once I’ve given them my (masculine) birth name. I distinctly remember applying for a job that was looking promising until one of the people I gave my name to said “So, ___ as in a boy?” directly to my face.
Bare in mind I have a right to schooling, yes, but I ask you: what is the point of me being able to get my degree if I can’t get hired by anyone after I get that degree? Especially in my field of education, it is extremely difficult for anyone “non-conforming” to get hired. No one wants a teacher that the parents of students might raise an eyebrow to. Now this is an issue that might be subverted to an extent if I’m in a scenario where I “pass,” which is quite likely, but that “passing” gets shot down the second employment sees my birth certificate.
My only option as a trans person born in Tennessee, and an option I’ve come to terms with, is that I must leave my home state to live a life of any quality. If you’re a citizen of the state and something of an economic pragmatist with little sympathy for the trans position, than this is at the very least the loss of one more teacher in a state that is in the middle of education reform in desperate need of more teachers. At the most, this is the coerced expulsion of a marginalized person from your state, who represents the expulsion of many other transsexuals in similar situations.
Please understand that if the legal definition of gender becomes absolute and unchangeable in this country, the expulsion of transsexuals from Tennessee will go from state-wide to country-wide. That is, members of the trans community of the country with the amount of privilege necessary to relocate will relocate. Those without the relative privilege will become even more marginalized and impoverished. This is not a negligible issue, this is not the frog in the boiling water. This is a breaking point in our country.
snowghoul
andulkaphoto
vaporwave
annaxmalina
stormborns
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