The Atlantic

Being Trans, and an Immigrant, Under the Trump Administration

Many transgender Americans have only been openly trans under an Obama administration that respected their rights. That is about to change.
Source: Reuters

The Immigration and Naturalization Officer told me my documents were “not acceptable.”

When I presented him with my state ID and name-change documents, in a cavernous room with gray walls, lit flat by fluorescent lights, the INS officer, a gray haired white man, told me:  “We need proof from a doctor you’ve had your operation.”

I socially and legally transitioned the same year George W. Bush came into office in 2001, the year I also became eligible for American citizenship, the year the September 11 attacks made it harder to be an immigrant, let alone transgender. A documented immigrant from the Philippines, I went to Immigration and Naturalization Services early that year to change the name and gender information on my green card, a necessary step for me to naturalize and claim a U.S. passport as a woman. I brought my hard-won Massachusetts State ID, social security card, and name change

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