This is probably one of the most ridiculous protests I’ve seen in a long time. The SEPTA TransPass is for the use of the person who bought it (it is non-transferable according to SEPTA policy); assigning the pass M or F reduces the possibility of theft or misuse by 50%. Let’s be frank, sex reassignment is absolutely a choice and amounts to nothing more than advanced cosmetic surgery. Gender is determined by one’s chromosomes. If you’re born male (I.E. XY), you will die an old man (XY), no matter what outward appearance you “choose” to portray. This is akin to someone choosing to have his perfectly good eyes removed and then crying discrimination when the State refuses to issue him a driver’s license. Just because you’re unhappy with how you were born, doesn’t mean the world has to adjust to you.

Wow, the commenter above is incredibly ignorant and bigoted. Makes me sad. Next time, try learning something about transgender people before sticking your foot in your mouth like that.

I'm thrilled that RAGE is standing up against this ludicrous system. There is absolutely no point whatsoever to having M or F markers on passes. It puts trans folks through additional discrimination and gender policing that no one needs in their lives. Bravo.

JW:

I'm sorry to read your comments. First, there are other ways to reduce the sharing of TransPasses. In New York, which has much heavier public transit ridership than does Philadelphia, they don't use gender labeling on their monthly passes. Instead, they institute a 10-minute wait between MetroCard swipes. I've never visited another city that requires gender stickers, and I'm not convinced that the gender stickers serve a useful purpose.

Second, I think it may be useful to consider the difference between (biological) sex and (socially-determined) gender. Sex would account for things like chromosomes and genitals-- but do bear in mind that it's estimated that about 1% of the population is born intersexed, with a physical and chromosomal makeup that doesn't fit neatly into the male or female category. Gender is all the traits that are determined by a culture. It's tied up with a person’s sense of being male or female; resulting from a combination of genetic and environmental influences. Awareness of gender identity is usually experienced in infancy and reinforced in adolescence. Here at Penn, gender might be expressed through things like hair-- long hair on women, short hair on men-- or by behavioral traits that are reinforced or approved by our culture-- for example, men don't often knit, and they might be taunted for doing so. In other cultures (and during other time periods in our own culture), those gender traits may vary. It may be considered masculine to wear certain bodily adornments, or feminine to have facial tattoos. Neither you nor I adhere to all the traits that are normative for our genders. There's a huge spectrum of gender expression, and it's not always related to the sex with which a person was born.

Also, consider this: it's expensive to get your gender legally changed on your documentation-- you have to pay for a certain number of therapy visits, then get the therapist write a letter on your behalf, then take that to City Hall and pay an additional fee, get a new license, passport, blah blah blah. As expensive as that is, hormones and surgery are even pricier, and totally out of the reach of some folks with gender identities that don't match their bodies.

Something you may not have considered, if you've been fortunate enough (as I also have) to be born in a body and assigned an identity that feels natural and comfortable to you, is how uncomfortable you would feel if you were in the position that many transgender and transsexual SEPTA riders (along with other people who have gender-ambiguous appearances, for example, butch lesbians, tomboys, intersex folks, etc.) find themselves in when trying to use their monthly pass. For the vast majority of trans folks, their gender identity is not a choice, and the harassment they face is inappropriate and unwelcome.

Consider the story of Charlene Arcila. Because she hasn't received the documentation change that will match her ID and papers to her lived identity, she was told that she couldn't have a female sticker on her SEPTA pass. She bought a monthly pass, was given a male sticker, and was repeatedly not allowed to get onto the bus that would take her to her job-- an embarrassing encounter as well as a frustrating one. It's much more expensive to pay with tokens, but that's what she's been forced to do to avoid daily humiliating encounters with the bus driver.

These stickers, which don't serve much of a purpose, have real implications for real human beings, and the impact disproportionately comes down on low-income people who can't afford the procedures needed to get the letter changed from M to F or vice versa on their state ID.

To read more on the issue, take a look at this article from the Philadelphia Weekly: http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-and-opinion/Transpassing-Prohibited.html

I know I've posted a fairly lengthy response. Thanks for taking the time to read it.

Ad hominem attack – the standard response when you disagree with liberal orthodoxy.. So how am I “ignorant” or what I said a sign of “ignorance”? Is sex reassignment surgery an individual choice or not? Is cross dressing an individual choice or not? The answer is “yes”, it’s a choice; and with any choice, there are consequences. Discrimination against “Trans” people isn’t for something they can’t control (ie., race, ethnicity, etc.), but is instead a direct result of their conscious choice to behave outside of social and societal norms. I frankly don’t care if SEPTA puts gender stickers on their TransPasses or not. My point is that a person’s civil rights are not violated simply because a company chooses to use their genetic sex as an identifier; virtually every ID card in my wallet has my sex listed on it as a way to identify me. A man who dresses as a woman is still a man (XY), and a man who has his body surgically altered to look like a women is still a man (XY). People need to stop thinking their some kind of victim simply because others don’t accept their choice of behavior.

In regards to Mr. Charlie Arcila (AKA Charlene), his choice to dress as a woman is the reason the bus drivers make the reasonable assumption that it’s not his legal pass. Again the common theme here is, PERSONAL CHOICE..

JW, and anyone else who does not understand this issue:

Actually, it's not a choice for everyone. Transsexed people are thought to have a birth "defect" where the brain and body don't develop in conjunction with one another. This is why one may feel like a man but have a female body or feel like a woman with a male body; the brain is thought to be wired differently than the appearance of the body. For most people with this experience, there have been feelings of something being "off" since a young age. While many people get medical treatment for this, some do not (as is with any other medical condition).

Now, for those who are not transsexed and choose to wear clothing which is "gender non-conforming", it may be a choice, but you know what? We all have the right to make that choice. And a public transportation system receiving the tax dollars of those very people for whom it may or may not be a choice should accommodate their needs.

Furthermore, the point of the stickers is to stop the theft or sharing of passes. The problem is that it does not do that. In fact, it does a laughably poor job of it. Not only can one male give the pass to another male (father to son, brother to brother, boyfriend to boyfriend, friend to friend), or a female pass to another female (mother to daughter, sister to sister, girlfriend to girlfriend, friend to friend), but one can EASILY remove the sticker or place another over it. Because of the ease at which one may bypass this so-called protection, SEPTA clearly hasn't thought this through (surprise?) and I can only conclude that they aren't actually invested in protecting their interests. It is this short-sightedness that causes things like the loss and mismanagement of revenue and fare hikes, not trans people trying to work the system.

There is nothing outrageous in the request to remove a gender designation from a bus pass. Given the complexity with which sex and gender exist in the biological and social order, it seems ridiculous that we, in general, continue to uphold an illusory binary system.

Lastly, these social norms you seem to value so highly are questioned by many people. Norms are not necessarily true and just. Remember, it was once a norm to have segregated bus seats and drinking fountains for "colored" people.

JW, you're the ignorant one. Transsexuality is not a choice, it is a biological condition. One backed up with scientific evidence an improvement in quality of life as well as the support of the medical community

Quite simply, calling you ignorant is not an ad hominem at all when you actually are ignorant. If you're going to throw around fallacies, learn what they mean first. It has to be irrelevant and the reason given for why you're wrong. This is not the case, it's because you don't know what you're talking about that you were called ignorant. As for the reasons, well, I gave some and other people here have as well. To say that transsexuality is just about cosmetic surgery is to ignore all the science.

Oh, and I should mention, you don't need to have any surgery to be transsexual or even to transition. Hormones are the big one. Most female to male transsexuals don't undergo the surgery and there's a fair number of male to female transsexuals that don't either. SEPTA is a policy that attacks them. Especially when it classifies people like as male and like as female.

Calling transsexuals by their birth sex not only attacks their identity, but makes it impossible for them to function in a society. Neither of the individuals I posted can pass as their birth sex anymore. All of this for what exactly? It's not like they hurt you in any way, shape, or form.

Even if it was purely a choice, do we not live in a free society? Do we not live in a society where I don't need your input to make a decision for myself? Do you need my input to make a choice? Transsexuals live as the sex opposite of their birth sex, why not give them the freedom to do so? Do you hate freedom?

The personal struggle of living in a body that doesn't correspond to the mind is hard enough without people attacking those who must as though they actually could rewire their own brains (and perhaps rewrite their genetic code, reprogram their intrauterine experience, etc.). And even worse, those unfortunately ignorant people do this instead of being happy that we're living in a time in which people can, both socially and medically, increasingly work toward piecing their body and mind together and living more fulfilling lives for it!