Most of the time I do not write about my own gendered interactions with American society, but they do happen. Most of the time I do not encounter ill-treatment.
As I announced a few months ago, I am planning to retire from my job as a college professor at the end of the next academic year…after being a teacher for 37 years. I sort of figured that was enough and that I could consider it a job well done.
I'm looking forward to moving to Southern California. We now own a condo in Reseda. By itself, living there will free up $1800 per month we now pay in rent.
This week I have some appointments about that life conversion. Tomorrow I meet with someone from TIAA-CREF about my retirement benefits. Yesterday I made a trip to the Social Security Office in Clifton, NJ.
It is that latter experience about which I shall write. Normally I have better days than yesterday. As in…almost every day.
I recently wrote a diary about the change in Social Security Administration policy (Seven years to victory) with regard to having one's gender marker changed.
Yesterday I gained personal experience.
Some back history:
I began my transition in 1992, at the age of 44. Being a professor at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway at the time, everyone in the city knew all about me. I was the main topic in churches everywhere. So when I went to the Social Security Office in Conway, I had no difficulty getting the name changed on my account…although they told me that they would not change the gender marker. I assured them that I was not requesting that.
I had been born in Portland, OR, and I traveled back to there in the summer of 1993 to visit with what was left of my family and to interview one of the surgeons who performs sex reassignment surgery to see if he would be the surgeon I wanted. I decided I didn't like him during that interview.
While in Portland, I got the name changed on my undergraduate diploma from Portland State University. After visiting my sister in Corvallis, I went to Eugene to have the name changed on my graduate degree as well. But I did not have my birth certificate amended because I had not yet had surgery at the time.
I had the first part of the surgery performed by Dr. Eugene Schrang of Neenah, WI, in August of 1994. I had a labioplasty (outpatient surgery), also by Dr. Schrang during Spring Break of 1995.
Although I have returned to Oregon a few times since then, I never went though the trouble of having my birth certificate amended. I sort of figured, "What's the point?"
I also do not have a passport. My only trip overseas was to Hawaii and the only foreign countries I have visited are Canada and Mexico.
In that diary I posted in June about the new rules, I stated the following:
…all that is now required to change the gender identity on their Social Security records is for individuals to submit government-issued documentation reflecting a gender change or certification from a physician confirming that they have undergone appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition.
This is not entirely accurate it turns out. The "government-issued documentation" allowed is limited to a
U.S. passport showing the corrected gender or a
birth certificate showing the corrected gender. I mistakenly thought that my driver's license would be sufficient.
Absent "government-issued identification", the requirement is a court order recognizing the correct gender or "a signed letter from a [provider] confirming that you have had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition".
The only court order I have is my divorce decree which acknowledges my name change but doesn't state my gender anywhere. And I have no intention of ever going to court to get a judge to determine my legal gender. I've always assumed that getting lawyers involved is the first step to madness.
So I submitted my notarized letter from Dr. Schrang, dated January 24, 2001, which identifies me as "a 52-year-old male to female transsexual who underwent Male to Female Sex Reassignment Surgery" on August 9, 1994, performed at Theda Clark Regional Medical Center in Neenah, Wisconsin.
This surgery has effectively converted Robyn E. Serven into a woman. Specifically I removed the testicles and penis and created a fully functional vagina, labia and clitoris. She should now be considered a fully functioning, anatomical female.
I performed the surgery in compliance with the Harry Benjamin Guidelines. It was done on the recommendations of two licensed workers in the gender oriented field and after the recommended one year course of hormone therapy was completed.
State of Wisconsin
County of Winnebago
--Very Sincerely yours,
Eugene Schrang, M.D.
Wouldn't you think that was sufficient to be "a signed letter from a [provider] confirming that you have had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition." I would. In fact, I did. But I was amazed that it took a couple of hours to get the rather hostile people at the Social Security Office in Clifton to agree.
I have to admit that during that time I was growing more and more angry. The new rules were supposed to make things easier, not more difficult.
I was told that all I needed was to get Dr. Schrang to issue me a new letter. I explained that he was retired and as far as I knew, could very well be deceased by now. I was told to get a court order instead. I ask the clerk if she would pay for it. I offered to drop my drawers to see if that would be sufficient. That offer was ignored.
Basically the problem was that Dr. Schrang did not foresee over a decade ago…in 2001…that there would be a sample letter created in 2013 that he should follow when he wrote his letter.
Possibly the sentence in the sample that was absent in Dr. Schrang's letter was:
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that the forgoing is true and correct.
GAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Eventually the assistant manager apparently reached someone higher up in the hierarchy who determined that Dr. Schrang's letter would be sufficient.
I will get my new card in two weeks.
PS: Had they denied me, my plan was to schedule an appointment with my primary care physician to have her determine my gender and write a letter…following the sample letter in the guidelines.