Beginning today transgender people in California will be able to have the gender we identify with proclaimed on our death certificates.
The Respect After Death Act was passed in September of 2014 and goes into affect today. The Act requires medical examiners and coroners to refer to legal document such as court ordered name and/or gender changes, passports, wills, proof of clinical treatment for gender transition, amended birth certificates or valid driver's licenses to determine the sex listed on death certificates rather than basing decisions solely on the apparent genitalia of the deceased. Such documents would also override any stated preferences of next-of-kin.
Since California passed its law, Illinois has passed a similar bill.
Sasha Buchert, a staff attorney at the Transgender Law Center said the California law is an improvement on what is being proposed in other states, such as Illinois, where the law would requires a transgender person to provide written direction or an advanced health care directive - a legal document in which a person specifies what actions should be taken for their health if they are no longer able to make decisions for themselves.
California’s new law is more flexible in that various forms of documentation can be used to influence the sex marker on the death certificate.
--Buchert
Other states require transgender people to have documentation proving that they have undergone complete change-of-sex operations and full medical treatment before allowing amendment of birth certificates.
Some transgender individuals go through medical treatments and procedures to physically change their bodies but not all do it and some change some parts of their bodies but not other parts.
So for medical examiners or coroners identifying a transgender person, it can be challenging.
--Buchert
Injustice at Every Turn, the 2012 transgender discrimination report revealed that 41% of respondents who had transiioned lived without ID that matched their gender identity.
Current California law requires 9 legal forms, $500 in legal fees and up to 6 months to get a court order for a name and gender change.
But even having updated information has not guaranteed correct identification.
The Respect After Death Act is also known as the Christopher Lee Law because it was inspired by events after Lee's death. The San Francisco artist and transgender activist was wrongly identified as female on his death certificate by the Alameda County Coroner's office after he died in 2012.
He was a trailblazer in the transgender community and I wanted to make sure his choices were honored and respected even after death.
--Chino Scott-Chung, longtime friend
Lee made several films about transgender culture, including one about his own life. In Christopher's Chronicles he explains that he was born female, Kristina. Then in his mid-20s, he started asking his friends to call him Christopher and to refer to him as "he" instead of "she." The film opens with Lee looking in the bathroom mirror rubbing shaving cream on his chin.
"When I was a little kid, I used to have this plastic razor. It was a straight razor. I used to pretend I was shaving every morning, just like my dad," he says, rinsing his hands in the sink. "I guess this should have been my first idea that I felt a little different than your normal little girl."
Another issue was that prior to this new law, the gender reported by the person’s legal next of kin was used on the death certificate.
This is problematic, as many transgender people face continued discrimination by their own families – who can’t accept their gender identity - and worry about leaving decisions about their deaths to hostile family members.
My father still calls me ‘she’, even though it is been 15 years since I transitioned to a man.
I’m offended by his lack of respect and wonder if he would dress me as a woman during my funeral.
--Karlyn Isaac Lotney, 50, of San Francisco
Scott-Chung is working with the Transgender Law Center to have Lee's death certificate amended.
We are helping other transgender people and it feels good to honor Christopher’s life in this way.
--Scott-Chung
I was born a male but I’ve been living as a woman for more than 20 years and I want my death certificate to show that I am a woman.
--Lyn Rawles, San Francisco