Absorbed in the excitement of the election and all the changes it may bring, my subconscious barely registered a small but very important report on New York 1, New York City’s all-news channel:

The city announced a plan Tuesday to make it easier for transgendered people to change the sex on their birth certificate.

The plan would let birth records reflect the new gender even if the person has not had a sex-change operation. However, one would need to show substantial proof that they have undergone other steps to irrevocably alter their gender, like hormone therapy.

The transgender community has long sought these changes, especially after the increased security following the 9/11 attacks. Transgenders have a hard time explaining why the gender listed on their identification does not match the way they look and dress.

Of course, I may be slow in my processing of the news, but this is critically important to many people. Jen Burke at Transcending Gender links to a full article on the story, and notes that what is great about it is that it recognizes that gender does not always match sex and surgery is NOT required to acknowledge the mismatch.

While I was searching for this story this morning on the NY1 website, I found another recent article of interest regarding transgenderism:

Transgender people won the right to use the restroom for whatever gender they consider themselves to be at MTA rail stations in an agreement reached by the MTA with a woman who sued the agency…

The agreement between the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund and the MTA also calls for the agency to sponsor a transgender sensitivity training program for its employees.

The MTA, which is the New York State Metropolitan Transit Authority, decision was reported by NY1 on Oct. 24. Yet on Oct. 30, Jen reported that three youth were arrested for using a women’s bathroom in Port Authority Bus Terminal. Jami commented, ”Gee, didn’t we just hear how much better the Transit and PA cops in NYC were going to be as a result of their sensitivity training?” However, the Port Authority is not governed by the MTA, but is its own authority, so the ruling does not apply to them, so not all is resolved by the MTA decision.

Incidentally, the bathroom issue never seems to work in the reverse. If there is a wait for the women’s bathroom that is too long, I’ve been known to use facilities marked as “men’s,” although I admit that I only do so if it is a single room where I can lock the door. (I have never understood why those types of bathrooms are for one sex or the other. Unless we assume that men and women use the bathroom very differently – and I don’t regard standing or sitting while peeing to be that different as to necessitate separate bathroom – it makes no damn sense to me. I always squat regardless of which room I’m in, as people of both sexes have been known to leave an extra something on the seat because they are inconsiderate.) Should I be arrested?

A more extreme case of "bathroom gender" cross-over occurred a few years ago. I took a bus down to the March for Women’s Lives in Washington, DC, as did several hundred thousand other women. If you happened to be driving down 95 that day, you know exactly what I am talking about. The line for the women’s room was absurd, whereas there were few men using the large men’s room stocked with urinals. A few women decided that enough was enough, and just as my husband and brother-in-law (two of the three men on my bus of 50 people on the way to the march) emerged after relieving themselves, they were practically knocked over by the women who took matters into their own hands as they stormed the men’s room. Again, no one was arrested, nor did anyone complain.

Years ago, at my bat mitzvah, the Torah portion I read was about Sodom and Gomorrah, and how Lot’s wife (who of course had no identity outside of her relationship to her husband, but I digress) turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back at the burning city she called home as she fled. New York City is often accused of being the Sodom and Gomorrah of our times exactly because of the gender-neutral laws and agency mandates that are passed here every once in a while, as well as other “sins” we tolerate and even encourage. While I am not fleeing New York any time soon, I am proud to be Lot’s wife and call it home. May we all be pillars of our community and stand up for human rights.

Suzanne also blogs at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants