Changeling Aspects
For Parents of Gender-Variant Young
For Parents of Gender-Variant Young
Links from Synopsis of Transsexualism
International Links from TranssexualRoadMap
GenderBridge -NZ A Great Site with a Vast Amount of Info.. See their "Resource" section.
Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Counsellors
Hair Removal & Facial Rejuvenation Etc
Queensland Police Service LGBTI Liaison
Australia's Internet Safety Advisory Body
Passport Office ( DFAT ) Correspondence
From: Jane.Luckhurst
Sent: September 17, 2007
To: Kathy Noble
Thank
you for your email dated 23 July 2007 addressed to the Office of the
Attorney-General concerning passport issue. - 
-( 200 KB )
From: Jane.Luckhurst@dfat.gov.au
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 11:52 AM
To: Kathy Noble
Subject: Fw: Passports [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Third time lucky?
Jane Luckhurst
Executive Officer
Passports Strategy, Policy and Coordination Section
----- Forwarded by Jane Luckhurst/People/DFATL on 02/10/2007 11:51 AM -----
Jane Luckhurst/People/DFATL
02/10/2007 11:16 AM To knoble@inet.net.au
Subject Fw: Passports [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Kathy,
Apologies for the delay in following up on our telephone conversation.
As discussed, a full validity passport in the new gender may be issued to a transgender person subject to the applicant meeting all relevant passport application requirements including:
· For applicants born in Australia – a birth certificate from their state/territory RBDM showing the gender of reassignment;
· For applicants born overseas – a revised citizenship certificate to reflect their new identity, or given current citizenship certificates no longer record a person’s gender, formal evidence from DIAC it has accepted the reassigned gender and amended its citizenship records to reflect the new gender.
Documents of Identity (DOI), of up to 12 months validity, with the gender field left blank, are available for people wishing to travel overseas for gender reassignment surgery.
I hope this information is useful.
Regards
Jane Luckhurst
Executive Officer
Passports Strategy, Policy and Coordination Section
From: Kathy Noble [mailto:knoble@iinet.net.au]
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 1:35 PM
To: 'Jane.Luckhurst@dfat.gov.au'
Subject: RE: Passports [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Dear Jane,
Thank you for the clarification. This will do I hope to put all of this behind us.
Just one question! Have there been any further amendments to the Passport Act since July 2005, as we have reports that there have been changes in May 2007. Is this erroneous?
Love and Peace,
Kathy
From: Jane.Luckhurst@dfat.gov.au [mailto:Jane.Luckhurst@dfat.gov.au]
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 11:39 AM
To: Kathy Noble
Subject: RE: Passports [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Kathy,
There have been no changes to the Act. However, from time to time Determinations are made by various areas of the APO, for example adjustment to the cost of a passport. You can find the Determinations on the Comlaw website (www.comlaw.gov.au). I am only aware of Australian Passports Amendment Determination 2007 (No. 1) which was made in May, the link is as follows;
Regards
Jane Luckhurst
Executive Officer
Passports Strategy, Policy and Coordination Section
From: Kathy Noble
02/10/2007 01:53 PM
To: <Jane.Luckhurst@dfat.gov.au>
Subject Law and words used for the Passport Act [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Hi Jane,
Sorry to trouble you, but this needs clarification and could be some of the reason for the problems that we encounter.
TRANSGENDER
Is a political term to cover all of the disparate classes of people who fight for the common goal of ending all discrimination based on sex/gender variance. The term Transgender is politically useful, but is too vague a word to show much commonality between individual people’s identities, life experiences or understanding of gender.
The word originally had a narrow definition as coined by Virginia Price in order to disassociate Tran people, such as herself, who lived full time as a member of her identified sex without undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS), from Transsexual, whom she reportedly disdained. (Brown, ‘20th Century TG History and Experience) (Leslie Feinberg, Transgender Warriors, Boston, Beam Press 1996)
Since the 1990s the word Transgenderism has been used primarily as an umbrella term to describe those who defy societal expectations and assumptions regarding femaleness and maleness; this includes people who are TS (those who live as members of the sex other than the one assigned at birth) and many other areas of those who are considered to deviate from societal norms of femaleness and maleness.. Another point that is often overlooked in discussions about transgenderism is that many individuals who fall under the transgender umbrella choose not to identify with that term. For example many Intersex people reject the term because their condition is about physical sex (not gender). Similarly, many Transsexuals disavow the term because of its anti-transsexual roots or because they feel that the transgender movement tends to privilege those identities, actions and appearances that most visibly transgress gender norms. (Whipping Girl, Julia Serano, Seal Press 2007)
The laws in Australia via States and Territories and Federal government will only allow you to change your Birth Certificate, Passport, Citizenship Certificate and Health Insurance Commission central records after SRS, so therefore are directed at and should only use the term Transsexual, and not Transgender, which indicates that they have not chosen to undergo SRS, and do not qualify to be able to change the above documentation as the law is currently stated!
If the word Transgender is used as the political term as an umbrella cover for all of the disparate classes of people it covers, then if this is used when formulating the law to cover those who can amend their Birth Certificate, Passport, Citizenship Certificate and Health Insurance Commission records, this would indicate anyone who is within those disparate classes, such as Cross-Dresser, Transgender, Transsexual, Drag Queen, Drag King, Intersex, AIS, PAIS, Genderqueer, etc, etc can change their documentation accordingly.
I do not believe that was the intention of those law, as they all state that one must have undergone SRS in order to change these items of documentation.
Kathy Anne Noble 25-09-2007
Please let me know if we are still to use the word Transgender, as it leads to the above mentioned situations. It is also used erroneously by many of the States and Territories and may/could lead to a Cross-Dresser applying and receiving a Passport or Birth Certificate.
Love and Peace, Kathy
From: Jane.Luckhurst@dfat.gov.au
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 3:18 PM
To: Kathy Noble
Subject: Re: Law and words used for the Passport Act [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Kathy,
Your question is not something the Passport Office can advise you on. Our policy in issuing passports remains as recently advised and does not depend on labels such as transgender or transsexual. However, we will keep in mind the definitions you have described, should there be a need to amend the language when policy is next updated.
Regards
Jane Luckhurst
Executive Officer
Passports Strategy, Policy and Coordination Section
From: Kathy Noble [mailto:knoble@iinet.net.au]
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 3:46 PM
To: 'Jane.Luckhurst@dfat.gov.au'
Subject: RE: Law and words used for the Passport Act [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Jane,
Thank you for that reply!
Kathy
See Also:
Australian
Passports Amendment Determination 2007 (No. 1) -
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