Shaker CaitlinMac alerts us to the fact that there will be a gathering in front of the Montreal office of the Director of Civil Status of Québec tomorrow, Thursday, June 17, starting at 3:30 p.m., in support of more appropriate access to legal change of name and sex designation for trans-identified people in Québec.
The Trans Commission of PolitiQ-Queers Solidaires, along with other groups sponsoring the action, are inviting all allies in the trans, queer, feminist, lesbian, gay, bisexual, anti-racist, left, etc. communities to come and join them. This will be the first event of its kind in Québec, and they are hoping for a large turnout.
Currently, Canadian citizens in Québec who want to change the designation of sex on their birth certificate must either live five years from the time of application with the difficulties and dangers imposed by documents which do not reflect their true gender and chosen name, or they must receive a diagnosis of 'gender identity disorder' from a psychiatrist and undergo “medical treatments and surgical operations involving a structural modification of sexual organs intended to change [their] sexual characteristics”.
The changes required to meet the medical/surgical reassignment definition necessarily impose sterilization on those undergoing the procedures. This is an outrageously discriminatory process to impose on transgender and intersex people who merely wish to have their official documents accurately list their gender and name. And of course, the medical/surgical route is not even available to many because of the expense.
Activists want the following:
• Access to legal change of name without excessive delay, similar to the regulations in force in all other Canadian provinces.
• Access to legal change of sex designation without compulsory medical treatments (operations or hormone therapy), based on the recommendation of a professional (a list of professionals can be drawn up in consultation with the concerned communities), following the example of Spain and the United Kingdom.
• Access to legal change of name and sex designation for non-citizens of Canada who have lived in Québec for one year.
• Access to legal change of trans people’s sex as designated on the birth certificate of children born to them before transition.
• A clear description, published on the website of the Director of Civil Status of Québec, of the procedures for legal change of name and sex designation for trans-identified people.
The address of the office of the Director of Civil Status is 2050, De Bleury, at the corner of Président-Kennedy (metro Place-des-Arts). If you're going to be within range of that location tomorrow afternoon, consider making a little history.
H/T to CaitieCat
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