Transgender Issues.

For the blog this week I looked at the website Immigration Equality, and found an interesting article about transgendered immigrants and their ability to get identity documents. Guidelines from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) state that a immigrant may get documents based on their "outward, claimed, and otherwise documented sex of the applicant." The meaning of this in not the same for all areas, and in some cases enforced in uneven ways. Some applicants are forced to have sex reassignment surgery (SRS). Some cases the gender on documents of recipients of Sex Reassignment Surgery is not changed, for no apparent reason at all. 
    In my own personal opinion, these guidelines are like a double-edged sword, good and bad. The outward appearance of say a man may not be what his true gender is, or what he identifies with. Therefore, he may feel uncomfortable, or even outraged that he cannot put his true gender. And if he were forced to get surgery, that doesn't seem right. I do see how if the guidelines were enforced in a "fair" and true manner it could actually do some good. 
   The Board of Immigration Appeals ruled in 2005 that if "marriage was valid where entered into under the laws of that state or country, it's valid for immigration purposes." So to me, this says if the marriage of anyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender or what have you, is legal in a certain area, it is legal for immigration documentation. Though it has good intentions, it is mis-applied. Many Transgendered individuals still struggle with equal rights. 
    Since 2008 attorneys and representatives of transgendered immigrants use the Immigration Law and the Transgender Client, which is a manual for said representatives to find ways to aid transgendered immigrants.