Transgender, Transsexual, Just Voting, And Is It Really A "Gripe"?

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

I don't know about you, but isn't a vote a vote? And as long as someone is voting does it really matter if your national identity card doesn't match what you look like now?

It's kind of like the guy at the airport who took a look at my passport and then took a look at me, and then took a look back at my passport, to which I said "That's me", and then said back:

"It was once."

Not matter.

I still got to fly.

Economy of course.


"It is the latest in a series of gripes among members of the Trans-Female Association of Thailand which groups transgenders and transsexuals known collectively as "katoeys" or "ladyboys."

We have a big problem when we use our identity cards in banks, schools, hospitals and now when we vote," said Yollada Suanyoc, president of the 2,500-strong organization.

"The picture may show a woman but it says 'mister' on the card. Or the picture may show a teenage boy and the person now looks like a woman."

Everyone in Thailand has to carry a national ID card with them at all times from the age of 15. It is renewed every seven years [...]

But Yollada said the government had been slow to accept them and accused society of grouping transgenders, transsexuals and homosexuals as one and the same when each group had its own issues.

"The government says if they change our title and sex, it's going to make society confused," she said. "The government worries that they won't know about our past."
Read it in full.

And As A LowNote

When I hear people use the word "gripe" in describing someone else - who is talking about their own marginalization - somehow - it just seems demeaning.