I May Lose the Right to Vote Because I Am Trans

I may lose the right to vote because I am trans.

Read that again.

I am currently in a legal fight that may end with me being unable to vote.

First, let’s talk about why I have lawyers petitioning Ohio right now.

I was born in Ohio, and Ohio did not allow trans people to change their birth certificates until 2020.

Ohio was one of two states holding out (the other was Tennessee) on letting trans people change their birth certificate to the gender that reflects their identity. In December of 2020 a judge struck down the policy that prohibited us from correcting our gender markers.

Because I was born in Ohio it doesn’t matter where I live. My ID says I am male because I live in Michigan and they recognize trans people. My birth certificate says I am female. I’ve been able to get a passport or travel outside the country since 9/11 happened because I can’t get a passport that matches my ID.

When the policy changed it was in the thick of the pandemic when everybody was stuck at home. The pandemic is still going on, but figuring out how to change my birth certificate back then was hard. I consulted multiple attorneys and none of them were able to figure it out and take my case.

Part of that is because I live in Michigan and I was born in Ohio. I have to get Ohio to agree to a birth certificate change, but in order to make it more complicated and harder for trans people, to change the marker you have to get a judge in the state where you live to sign off on the gender change.

This is why I needed a lawyer. You can do it without one, but I found the process very confusing and this is why when Trump was being elected I still had not changed my birth certificate.

As he was elected I have spent the last year working with a lawyer in Michigan. They are in the process of petitioning Ohio now and it’s been a few months. I don’t know what’s going on and I’m not sure what I will find out.

The thing is, if they decide that they won’t give me the gender marker change on my birth certificate, I can’t get a passport, and what is worse, I could lose my right to vote.

Congress is currently trying to pass something called the SAVE ACT. It’s a thinly veiled attempt to prevent trans people like me from being able to vote if our birth certificates do not match our IDs.

This will also affect married women as your name will have to match on your birth certificate. I could technically get a passport that says female with my very legal male name but that is incredibly dangerous. Every time I would have to show my passport I would out myself. That could be dangerous if the wrong people find out I am trans.

But losing your right to vote is a horrible thing. A nation is not free, not that we are pretending the US ever has been, if its citizens do not get fair representation through fair voting practices.

I am nervous about the outcome, but I am trying to remain hopeful my legal team will get the response we seek. Otherwise, I may be suing the US government. Only time will tell.