Lt. Gov Dan Patrick on Transgender Court Orders

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In a recent article the Austin American Statesman quoted Dan Patrick regarding the bathroom bill debate as saying as an aside: “If you are a true transgender person and you go to the court and get your birth certificate changed, we’re not discriminating against you.” Chuck Lindell & Sean Collins Walsh, “Bathroom Bill Dominates Day 2 at Capitol,” January 11, 2017.

I find this interesting and a bit bizarre. First off, Dan Patrick is acknowledging that transgender people born in Texas have the right to correct their birth certificates. He is also stating that the Texas courts have the power to do so. Hurrah, Dan! I agree with you about these two things! As do courts in several counties in Texas—but not everywhere, and I wish the conservative courts blocking trans people in their counties got as far as (really? yes, really) Dan Patrick on this issue, as a split is developing in Texas about whether to allow correction of gender court orders.

But here’s the weird part: who on Earth are the “fake” trans people Dan is talking about? What a bizarre idea. Just because not everyone can afford the money or the time off work to sort court orders, or has figured out that that’s even possible in Texas, you want to punish them by making it hard for them to pee? It’s cruel. But it’s also off-base and just shows a profound misunderstanding of the process as coming out as trans, obtaining gender correction court orders, etc. No surprise.

The surprises are the positive bits of the statement, the tiny parts that Dan Patrick got right.

Just thought we’d share…!

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