How Many Roads Must A (Trans-)Man Walk Down, Before You Can Call Him A Man?

"Transgender man's name change denied" reads the title of a recent article in the Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle newspaper. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060712/\NEWS 01/607120346/1002/NEWS____Although I often focus on matters specifically germane to Transgender women, because we as a sub-set within the broad TG spectrum end up having to endure far more abuses from society in general than the rest, I rose up in anger and disgust when I first caught wind of this news from another site which I frequent.Bob Dylan asked that question in it’s original form back in the early 60s within his song "Blowin’ In The Wind". He wasn’t talking about Trans-men though. The hot-button issue at that time was racial equality. Unfortunately, we still must pose that question again when we consider that in some parts of the country, certain authorities for whatever reason use the hammer of justice to bludgeon and beat down whole classes of people simply because they do not agree with what these folks represent in their small minds. The offense at hand in the Subject Article is an utter outrage! I for one, categorically reject the notion that any Transgender person should be compelled by law to provide umpteen documents or pay exorbitant fees associated with the procurement of such documentation in order to justify a reasonable revision of personal identification which is not required of any other person seeking such a revision. (i.e. a name change due to marriage, etc.) I obviously went through that process myself, which took 3 times as long as it used to, due to Homeland Security measures and all. Yes - I paid the price; and fortunately my petition for the necessary change was not denied.Nevertheless, placing the onus upon the Transgender Community in matters like this is undue duress. It is a monstrous and oppressive misapplication of legal authority.I hope the ACLU successfully defends Mr. Rockefeller and sets a much-needed precedent regarding legal name changes for Transgender individuals. It would serve notice upon any other court in the land that even ventures to think that it will deny another TG petitioner his or her right to codify who they truly are (via identification commiserate with that identity); that this sort of demeaning treatment will no longer be tolerated anywhere, at any time!I likewise repudiate laws that require Transgender persons to verify that they have had SRS (Sex Re-assignment Surgery), before they can be legally classified as their declared (target) gender. What of the Non-Operative or poverty-stricken within that Community? Are they no less who and what they are, whether or not they invest in that expensive procedure? The same people who agree with the imposition of these draconian sanctions are also the same cadre which balk at hiring Transgender employees. I believe it is their tacit method of "punishing" those whom they jokingly make fun of and relegate to less than human status amongst their peers. They have pompously dictated that I and many others may never be granted legal status as the women or men we know we are - unless we pay a big chunk of change. Then they make sure we get stuck without a job or are squished into menial tasks that pay virtually nothing - thus indefinitely locking us into a sorry state where our IDs have a gender designation upon them that is incongruent with our names. All we want is to be responsible and contributing citizens of this nation without difficulty. But the edicts of prejudicial bigots routinely complicate our lives!This is economic duress modified into more socio-legal oppression much like the Poll Taxes and Voter's Tests were used against the African-American Community in the "Jim Crow" days in order to deny them voting rights and political power. What other law-abiding segment of society or demographic group has to go through such lengths just to "prove" that they are one or the other gender? That is another topic - but of a certainty it is equally heinous and must be some day stricken down from respectable civil jurisprudence.In all sincerity____Nancy-Jo Morris