Transgender people have never seen a year like 2011 – nearly every month brought news of a major advance.
It began with a clarification that any physician can certify that a passport applicant has had appropriate treatment for a gender transition, all that is now needed for a transgender person to obtain a passport in their correct name and gender. Since passports are one of the few “gatekeeper” documents that can be used to change other forms of identification like driver’s licenses, this change has huge implications for lowering the rate at which trans people are involuntarily outed and thereby exposed to prejudice.
