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Legal recognition policies are important because they form the firm foundations of affirming the dignity and respect of a transgender person. It is also the gateway to other rights like the right to privacy, freedom of expression, free to arbitrary arrest, right to employment, education, health, justice, movement, housing, and right to marry. The process should no longer subject the applicant to humiliation and harmful treatment.

Legal challenges may be;

 Civil status requirement: In some countries where same-sex marriage is prohibited, such unions are challenged and may be nullified. A transgender person should be allowed to express love and marry. Like any other normal person, they can find love on dating sites too. Unfortunately, in some countries, a parent who chose to undergo gender reassignment might lose custody of their child due to forced divorce.

Age: The procedure for legal gender recognition may involve age restriction or minimum age requirement. If the recognition requires a medical interview, these are often done to adults. Therefore, they are discriminated against based on age brackets.

Requirements met before legal recognition:  There may be certain things to be met before being able to change their name and registered names like irreversible sterilization, hormonal treatment, preliminary surgical procedures, and sometimes proof of ability to live for a long time in the new gender.

Medical requirements:  They involve psychiatric diagnosis, compulsory medical intervention like hormonal treatment, and surgery.  Though it is under review, WHO statistics listed transsexuals as a ‘mental and behavior disorder’.

The fight for legal recognition in many countries brings moral fear but it is a worthy cause. If trans rights of privacy, free expression including expressing love on a trans dating site and dignity is to be upheld, the government has to understand that unjust restriction of people's right has to stop. The trans community has to understand that it is their responsibility to ensure that their rights are upheld authorities. That will only happen if they accept they are normal and nothing short of that. There is a great need to end abusive and discriminating procedures that hinder rights to recognition. 

Some countries have enforced laws that prohibit transgender people from expressing themselves as ‘the opposite sex’ declaring them legally in existence. Elsewhere, trans are arrested under the law that sees the same sex as a criminal act.  The fact is, trans are real and they are here to stay. They should live like any other person and associate normally. Transgender dating site has people who don’t need licensing to recognize you as who you are.  However, without the legal documentation that recognizes transgender law and has rights and protection they associate with, they will continue to face potential violence and humiliation. Therefore, they hide themselves from the public.

Suicide cases among transgender people result from systematic marginalization and humiliation. They are killed brutally, raped, kidnapped, tortured, and mutilated. Some have been asked to explain how they do sex with their partners in public. A transgender person should not entertain verbal diarrhea from narrow-minded people or offer answers to such talks. In recent years, the trans community around the world has made efforts towards achieving legal recognition.  Breakthroughs have been in areas of choosing the gender identity you want at 18yrs of age, choose whether to undergo gender reassignment, and change official documents information without prior medical or judicial approval. Children can do so with consent from a legal representative or a judicial proceeding. In some nations, transgender people can change their gender marker on documents simply by filling in the required forms. There is still a lot to be done since not all can be achieved by legal documentation. As a transgender person, go out there and claim your space. Don’t hide away or bribe your way out of injustice practices towards you. If you believe in yourself, they will believe in you too. In trans dating sites, you can be yourself freely and exercise rights to your feelings without fear of like-minded people.

In conclusion, legal gender recognition is about ensuring a gender person’s rights are respected, stopping discrimination, and maintaining dignity. A quick, accessible, and transparent legal procedure without abusive representation can do it. So will when a transgender person is given identity papers and other relevant official documents that match with a person’s identity. The documents should include a clear male or female gender marker. It can never be right if the legislative and the government don’t consult with the transgender community and NGOs that defend transgender human rights.

The Transgender community has to understand the process of legal recognition can be humiliating. There is a need for courage and willingness to go through the process before things get better. However, one must live their life to the fullest and that does not need licensing.

Eventually, your next step for legal transition will be to change your gender marker. Now, this part is significantly more difficult and varies wildly from state to state. Some states are relatively simple, while others are a right pain in the butt. For example, I am very privileged to have done all this in Minnesota, which has one of the more trans-friendly laws regarding gender change. For me, I had to consult with a physician about my gender identity and present a document from her verifying that she believes my gender identity to be valid (though ironically, the Judge presiding over my case didn't even ask for it! Don't gamble on that though ), alongside dotting my I's and crossing my t's of course. I got it changed on my social security card, my birth certificate, and my photo ID.

Unfortunately, not every gender change is going to be that simple. A lot of states require that you undergo gender reassignment surgery before you are allowed to change your name, which is both cost-prohibitive for many, but also not something that every trans person wishes to undergo. Some states will also require that your gender change is noted on your birth certificate (mine did not, thankfully). Of course, knowing how the United States can often treat trans people, it should not be surprising at all to find out that a few states are not interested in trans rights beyond seeing the advance of these rights as a threat.

In Kansas, Ohio, and Tennessee, a person cannot change the gender on their birth certificate to match their gender. In all three, however, a person may still change the gender on their driver's license just by having a notice from their physician verifying their gender identity. Kansas has laws that prevent changes to a birth certificate other than minor changes, and Tennessee is the only state to specifically bar trans people from changing their gender marker.

It's not all bad though, because at least driver's license gender change laws are significantly less stringent. Unfortunately, you will still have to deal with some rigmarole depending on your state. Luckily, states generally do not require SRS in order to get the gender marker changed on your driver's license, meaning that you will still be able to present as your gender in public if you can't change it on your birth certificate. The conflict with states not allowing birth certificate changes can present complications, however; for instance, if you were born in Ohio and moved to Kentucky, Kentucky law requires that your driver's license's marker match your birth certificate's.

While we are admittedly in a bit of a sour spot in history for trans people with the election of Donald Trump to the presidency and setbacks on trans rights, trans people have seen many legal victories in recent years. For example, before April of this year, Idaho was alongside Kansas, Ohio, and Tennessee in denying trans people the right to change their gender marker on their birth certificate. However, a subsequent lawsuit and decision by an Idaho District Court Judge resulted in Idaho law being changed to the effect that trans people's request to change their gender marker is not automatically denied anymore. Not only that, but SRS is not required, and neither is a notation of the gender having been changed. There are lawsuits against other such laws, including Ohio, so we may well see laws relaxed.

Because of the complexity of laws regarding changing your gender, such an article cannot and should not be used as your sole source of information. In order to get a proper understanding of your state's laws, check out here... Changing Birth Certificate Gender Designations: State-By-State Guidelines.