N.Y. Plans to Make Gender Personal Choice

New York Times ^ | 11/07/06 | DAMIEN CAVE

[conservative in nyc]

Separating anatomy from what it means to be a man or a woman, New York City is moving forward with a plan to let people alter the sex on their birth certificate even if they have not had sex-change surgery.

Under the rule being considered by the city’s Board of Health, which is likely to be adopted soon, people born in the city would be able to change the documented sex on their birth certificates by providing affidavits from a doctor and a mental health professional laying out why their patients should be considered members of the opposite sex, and asserting that their proposed change would be permanent.

Applicants would have to have changed their name and shown that they had lived in their adopted gender for at least two years, but there would be no explicit medical requirements.

“Surgery versus nonsurgery can be arbitrary,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the city’s health commissioner.

Dr. Frieden continued: “Somebody with a beard may have had breast-implant surgery. It’s the permanence of the transition that matters most.”

If approved, the new rule would put New York at the forefront of efforts to redefine gender. A handful of states do not require surgery for such birth certificate changes, but in some of those cases patients are still not allowed to make the change without showing a physiological shift to the opposite gender.--Snip--

--Snip--The change would lead to many intriguing questions: For example, would a man who becomes a woman be able to marry another man? (Probably.) Would an adoption agency be able to uncover the original sex of a proposed parent? (Not without a court order.) Would a woman who becomes a man be able to fight in combat, or play in the National Football League? (These areas have yet to be explored.)

[little jeremiah]

I'm not really in the elephant category....

Starting to lose some. Every little bit helps. I don't expect to be high school weight. Nor do I expect to have all my high school teeth.

;-]

[TASMANIANRED]

Valium by crop duster.

[Army Air Corps]

"Valium by crop duster."

There is government grant in there somewhere...

[ukie55]

roll eyes

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

let people alter the sex on their birth certificate even if they have not had sex-change surgery.

This'll get the boys into the girls High School/college locker rooms. Simply change your "sex" back after college.

And can you imagine the girls basketball team?!? Damn!!! Those are some tall, hairy, flat chested, women...

[proud American in Canada]

This is extremely bizarre.

[ukie55]

I also want to pick my own race, and then I'll finally be able to beat the affirmative action game.

Could I claim to be an albino black?

[ukie55]

Now this whole issue would fit in nicely with the people who want to grant human rights to apes. Hey, if we can label ourselves as some kind of animal, we'll get treated a whole lot better by the left that if we insist on being human.

My head feels like it's going to explode.....

[little jeremiah]

I actually don't even belong on this planet....

[trisham]

I remember the conversation - I really thought I could grow up and be an elephant.

Funny thing, I DID grow up and become an elephant!

(Not really, but I need to lose about 35#...)

***********

Awwww. Kids are so adorable. It's really amazing how little we change.

[little jeremiah]

I really like elephants still, thanks!

I loved the Mowgli books by Rudyard Kipling. Read them over and over.

[trisham]

I loved the Mowgli books by Rudyard Kipling. Read them over and over.

************

I don't know if you have children, but if you do/when you do, one of the best things that a parent can do is share their most beloved childhood books with their children. I still fondly remember my mother reading to us before bedtime.

[little jeremiah]

My kids are grown and I've got a couple of grandhchildren; unfortunately they live 1000s of miles away...

BTW, I like your tagline!

[trisham]

Thanks! :)

[oneamericanvoice]

LOLOLOL!!!! I want to be a Mexican because then I could sneak into the country, demand free education, free health care, voting right, lower interest loans, citizenship, and everyone to speak my language!