Like a transgendered child
We were born
Born to be wild
Posted on 03/25/2014 3:44:18 PM PDT by Loyalist
The mother of a transgender child wants the Saskatchewan government to remove any record of a person's sex on birth certificates.
Fran Forsberg has filed a complaint to Saskatchewan's Human Rights Commission on behalf of her six-year-old child, Renn, after the province's Vital Statistics Agency refused to change Renn's sex designation from "Male" to "Female" on the youngster's birth records.
Renn was born with male genitalia but has identified as a girl since the age of three. According to the Canadian Pediatric Society, children establish their gender identity between 18 to 30 months. When Forsberg sought to change Renn's birth record, she submitted reports from a physician and psychologist confirming that Renn identifies as a female. The Vital Statistics Agency, however, was not moved.
In Saskatchewan, Forsberg learned a resident can only change the sex designation on a birth certificate after undergoing sex reassignment surgery, a requirement that is considered discriminatory in the province of Ontario.
"We used to have race on our birth certificates — also, what your father did for a living. It's irrelevant," Forsberg told CBC News. "What I would like to see is for gender to be removed completely from birth certificates."
The Forsberg family first realized that Renn, six, didn't feel like a boy inside when she started self-harming about three years ago. Renn would bang her head against the wall unless she was allowed to wear girls' clothing and be called a girl.
Today, her older sister, Krista, 11, likes to help Renn pick her outfits, ranging from black sequin halter dresses to pink frilly gowns. Renn is also allowed to use the girl's bathroom at her elementary school.
"We think people should accept other people for who they are, and not judge them for who they're not," Krista said.
The Forsbergs decided to go public with their campaign, arguing that staying quiet only adds to stigma and discrimination.
"I want people to understand that my kids do not have an issue with their gender or their gender expression," Forsberg said. "It is society's issue."
Changes made in Ontario
Forsberg said that when the gender marker — M or F — on a birth certificate, driver's licence, or passport doesn't match one's physical presentation, it triggers confusion and discrimination.
The Ontario government changed its legislation after the province's Human Rights Tribunal ruled that it's discriminatory to require transgender people to undergo surgery before changing the sex designation on their birth certificates in a decision in 2012.
While the change was celebrated as the first legislation of its kind in Canada, many were not satisfied because it doesn't apply to children under 18 and a person must still present a doctor's note that verifies their gender identity.
The B.C. government is now poised to pass similar legislation regarding its records, after pressure from Harriette Cunningham, 10, who was born a boy but identifies as a girl.
The proposed B.C. legislation falls short of Cunningham's request that gender markers be removed entirely from government-issued ID.
'M' and 'F' add nothing to passports, lawyer says
While birth certificates fall under provincial jurisdiction, they're required for passports issued by the federal government.
Barbara Findlay, a lawyer from Vancouver, has launched a legal challenge to have M and F removed from passports. She reasons that compared to photographs and other biometric security features, a gender marker adds little information.
"If you're going to use a document for identification purposes, and it has photograph on it, a gender marker adds nothing," Findlay said. Since 2011, Australia has allowed citizens to mark an "X" for gender on their passport, rather than "M" or "F." New Zealand followed suit. And in 2013, a new law in Germany allows parents of intersex infants to leave their gender unstated, or "blank," on birth certificates.
Forsberg family is united
At the Forsberg home, Renn's siblings, Tana and Krista, say they've been taught to stand up for themselves and be proud of who they are.
Renn's big brother, Tana, 9, isn't transgender but likes to experiment with girl's clothing. He wears costumes and wigs to church and once entered a drag queen competition. He has also posed as a girl on posters and billboards for the "Pink Revolution" campaign, which is intended to educate people about different gender presentations.
Tana said he has learned to defend himself at school. "Somebody walked up to me and said, 'Are you a girl or a gay boy?' I said, 'Does it really matter?'" he told CBC News.
Their mother said it is important to foster a healthy self-esteem in her children.
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, an estimated 20 to 30 per cent of transgender youth have attempted suicide.
Forsberg said filing the human rights complaint is part of making systematic change.
"I don't want my kids to think that they have something to hide or that they have something to be ashamed about, because they don't," she said. "And people who are unkind to children like this, they're the ones who should be ashamed and hiding."
No, he hasn't. His crazy mother has probably observed some silly behaviour and interpreted it this way, but he is still a boy.
Renn's big brother, Tana, 9, isn't transgender but likes to experiment with girl's clothing. He wears costumes and wigs to church and once entered a drag queen competition. He has also posed as a girl on posters and billboards for the "Pink Revolution" campaign, which is intended to educate people about different gender presentations.
This boy is being twisted around by one very sick mother as a political prop, and he and his brother are going to be in for a world of pain and suffering as they get older and suffer the inevitable psychological problems associated with their upbringing.
At the heart of all this nonsense is an incredibly arrogant wilfulness: demanding that if one's wishes do not accord to reality, reality must change.
This is child abuse. A saner age would have identified it as such.
has identified as the other sex since the age of THREE!?
I’m sorry, but Child Protective Services needs to pay this family a visit...
And I want to be the Emperor of North America. When is my coronation?
[ has identified as the other sex since the age of THREE!?
I’m sorry, but Child Protective Services needs to pay this family a visit... ]
No, CPS is too busy keeping children with real physical health issues imprisoned in the state of Massachusetts
You are exactly right. Child Abuse. These people should not be allowed to have any more kids.
Like a transgendered child
We were born
Born to be wild
Not a Canadian situation here ...
On US birth certificates ...
Can one get the parent’s SSN redacted from a child’s b/c ?
They started putting them on and this is just another loose end in the identity theft world.
Even after age 18 can it be done?
Just put checkmarks on the b/c. One for penis and one for pussy. Warning: Do not check both.
The kids in this family will end up drug addled and with massive psychological problems when they hit their teens. What kind of church lets kids dress up like this? The United Church of Pedophilia?
The mother is pressuring the state to alter historical records to effectively hide her crimes of child abuse.
Child abuse. The mother should be jailed
Child abuse. The mother should be jailed
Until when, or if, the “child” becomes an adult and is surgically changed to whatever the gender du jour, legal documents identifying he or she should reflect the gender they were born with, not what Mom wants it to be. Stupid woman.
I give up. What is it?
Three years old! When I was three years old, I wore whatever my mother put on me. I could have worn a dress and wouldn't even know what it meant.
This is criminal and this child is going to have a very rough life.
The mother named the kid Renn. The pic is Ren from “Ren and Stimpy” a 90’s kids show.
Why would a Freak who didn’t care enough about raising a child to the most minimal standard of normalcy - care so greatly about a letter on a piece of paper filed away in desk somewhere?
This is child abuse. A saner age would have identified it as such.”
...what you said! X’s 2!
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