Reading an article in Dame Magazine this morning, “The Government Is Coming for Female Personhood“, I was of course struck rather early on that such a change to documentation requirements for voting would certainly act to disenfranchise trans people as well. But I usually like to have something to point to, not just the general well known fact that of course getting a complete set of matching documents poses great trouble for many people.
Although I do suppose my word ought to be good enough in light of how obvious this fact appears to me. As I was waiting on some negatives to scan, I thought I’d catch up with the stories over at Assigned Media. I was handed the perfect article to make my point: Texas Resorts to ‘Old Playbook’ to Institutionalize Bigotry and Sow Fear
To quote the important point, regarding proposed law in Texas:
Texas lawmakers pushed a bill to bar trans people from amending the gender on their birth certificates, a measure that could have harmful ripple effects on other forms of legal identification.
And now, a quote from the Dame story on the proposed federal ID requirements:
In order to vote under Roy’s proposed guidelines, Americans would need to have the exact same name on both their birth certificate and their current ID
The two dovetail quite perfectly, yes?
Now a person in Texas under both proposed laws would be stuck with the option of either coming up with all identification that matches their identity or to relent to the dictates of the state as to how they should identify.
This of course doesn’t even account for those who, even if they have some ID that matches their identity, may not be able to change their birth certificate simply from an inability to navigate the system or put in the time. It of course acts as a barrier to voting all the same. Whether it is the law forbidding you from having documents that align with your gender or the no time to change every government record, such a system of course disenfranchises people all the same.
Even if perhaps your documents all match and you are willing to do what it takes to go vote (even going under some name forced upon you), there will be some worry in anyones mind as to being called out as not “matching” your ID. The act of being forced to stand out , to be marked, is disenfranchising. Taking the risk that you will be targeted for your presentation, for who you are, for having the audacity to vote while trans.
This is, of course, the point. The underclass must be preserved and put in their place. It is a resurrection of patriarchy as law and government, what they would call the “natural order”.
Trying to get my blogging muscles going again, so I will leave this here.
-DrMundane