Today E got her new driver’s license with her correct name and gender on it!  Even the mugshot is right!  Then she changed her car insurance info.  We sent off the forms for her birth certificate and pension/benefits.  Now it’s just a matter of making business calls/visits, and waiting on official documents.  People have been surprisingly accommodating, for a change.

As complicated as all this bureaucracy may sound, this is just the grand finale to a lifelong upstream battle to transition, medically and in every other way, in an obstructive, discriminatory culture.  Anyone making this journey should know that it is not easy nor for the fainthearted, and not something you choose lightly or at all.  You do it because there is no other option.  You wouldn’t wish this upon your worst enemy.  You count the cost, which can be extremely high, not just in terms of dollars, but in loss of family, friends, home, employment, health coverage, benefits, credit, and rights.  Some days you’re just hanging on for dear life.

On the lighter side, she did it.  And now I must adjourn to my rightful place, the erev kitchen, to prepare a victory meal, with a side of victory libations.  Perhaps even a Victory V-bar is in order, yes?  Cheers!