I find it to be a pretty standard tawdry affair - standard "Before" and "After" photos (what does this have to do with a legal piece?) as well as vivid descriptions of one of the transwomen's cross-dressing days.
Fran said she thought marriage would stop the cross-dressing, but she kept discovering caches of women’s clothes, which led to fights.
“She was always resentful, because the money I would spend on my second wardrobe would be better spent on diapers, household expenses,” Denise said.
“And vacations,” chimed in Fran, a woman of fewer words.
Yay self absorbed husbands with gender issues! The tone of this article is clear - Fran is a put-upon woman, with an eccentric husband. The picture they chose is also curious as it has the trans woman in the relationship holding back her wife. I may be looking too deep into that, but this is just a blog post.
I find myself curious about what the deal is here. I hesitate to criticize people for stepping up to unjust conditions, but in the case of a woman who pre-transition entered into a legal marriage with a cis-gendered woman, they basically have it made. They have all the benefits of legal marriage, while being in a gay relationship. It's not perfect - but the storm they're attempting to create over this has much more potential to negatively impact me, and others like me- someone who lives as a woman, with a male birth certificate, who is straight.
The Times' reporter went to the IRS and Social Security office for clarification on these matters - the last thing we want to be doing is haphazardly looking to these agencies to set precedents - all because an already legally married couple wants a little more piece of mind. The response from Social Security was kind of awesome
A spokeswoman for the Social Security Administration said in an e-mail message that the agency “will review each case on an individual basis to determine what effect gender change has on marital status, since each state has different laws on gender change and its effect on marital status.”The IRS refused to comment. Most likely because they were busy brainstorming new ways of fucking over trans people. Like deciding to no longer allow SRS to be tax-deductible. So, poking them with a stick about trans policies at this point in time is not the most strategic thing in th world.
2 comments:
I shared your post on Helen Boyd's forum, and she's blogged it back here:
I like what you've got to say, a bunch. You've called out a lot of cr*p.
-Veronica
People like yourself, critical thinkers, will lead the way in gaining rights for those of us in transgendered territory. From old CDs like myself to young and attractive "non-op" women like yourself we deserve the same rights as all other citizens of the USA.
From my youth in the 1950's I have found compassion and empathy for whatever the current target of discrimination group is. It was blacks in my youth. But how can we as a country decide that someone is less an American than another? Logically we can't, but the ever creative legislators in America have always found a way.
All of us need to bond as a group and never let a dumb criminal like bush into office again. We all need to examine our faith and try to understand how the words of Jesus of Nazareth have been translated into so much hate and discrimination. His "golden rule" didn't have any "but......" clauses in it. I only heard about him kicking the asses of some "moneychangers" doing business in a temple.Once the cause of this hubris is found, we can extinguish it at the source.
We just need to keep our eyes on the prize and stay firm in our dedication to equal rights for all Americans. There is a growing percentage of Americans who are setting aside old ideas and favor treating everyone equally.
I'm not implying they say, "Look at those men in women's clothes. Aren't we all prod to see them asserting their rights to be who they are". But now when my CD group goes out to a show or dinner our presence is usually shrugged off It's no big deal. These are the people we need to recruit to our side, not to help us dress, but to get out and vote for equal rights for all Americans.
We have a horrendous record of not voting in this country. That leaves open the gates for the motivated haters to have an influence far beyond their numbers. The leaders of these flocks of sheep get them to go to the polls under some threat of being smitten by some god or another, and they do their masters' bidding like robots.
Critical minds and thinkers need to be out in the open advocating voting, advocating equal rights and advocating using ones' head instead of being brainwashed or trained like an obedient pet.
Critical Thinker, I agree with you and want to see more of your rational thoughts spread about. Let us seek not to "train" people to support us. Let us, instead, promote independent thought, equal rights for all and the responsibility of every American to vote.
MIkki from Baltimore
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