August 27, 2010
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A new Law takes affect immediately
It used to be that if you lived in Pennsylvania and were transgendered the Department of Transportation only allowed transgender people to mark their appropriate gender on official documents if they could prove that they had completed sex-reassignment surgery.
Aside from the obvious invasive nature of asking transgender people if they had sex-reassignment surgery before allowing them to choose the appropriate gender for their license, the policy could have created problems for transgender people. What happens when you’re pulled over for speeding and the police officer notices the gender marked on your license is in complete contrast to how you look?
That has all changed.
The PennDOT and Equality Pennsylvania announced a settlement Wednesday that allows people to change the gender on their licenses if they are living full-time in the new gender and it can be verified by a licensed medical or psychological caregiver.
Are these new rules still too invasive? Perhaps. It is a step in the right direction though.
26 other states and Washington, D.C. already have a similar policy in place.
http://www.wgal.com/r/24770627/detail.html
