Will the Real Eva-Genevieve Please Stand Up?

Greetings my friends,

Well it has been a long time in coming but finally I have in hand my Name Change Decree from the Los Angeles Superior Court! For the sake of expediency we did not include the exclamation point as part of my name because, according to the Court Clerk, it would be a problem for the DMV and other agencies and for getting a Passport. I generally include it because it is my way of thanking God for giving me this wonderful second chance in life and eventually I will get it added legally, most likely once I have had SRS surgery when it will be even more of a thing for me to celebrate and be thankful about. Below is a scan of the Decree (with a couple personal items removed) and I also include a scan of the public notice Published in the Glendale News-Press in February.

Hugs and Blessings,

the real Eva-Genevieve! Scarborough

Why it Matters to Me

I feel that I am a two-spirit; part man and part woman. I seldom put it out in the open as I am doing now because there will always be someone to take issue with it needlessly. The mix is about 80/20 in favor of the woman and though I identify as female I can't in good conscience pick just simply the F box on important Civil or medical forms. It is not a fully truthful answer (for me) and so I always correct the form and indicate I am a transgender female, for this truly is my gender. I can't change my genetic make up (not, at least, until Revlon comes out with Genetic Makeup - lol) nor can I change the spirit and soul I have been given, and so I strive for truthfulness about myself. I am a female built on a male frame and that is impossible to change; this is the wonderful gift God gave to me and so I celebrate it rather than hide it. In this spirit, the US Census is important enough that I can't take the easy way out and simply mark F.

For the sake of most other questionnaires and surveys (especially on the internet) I simply pick F because it isn't important nor oppressive to the male aspect of my spirit to do so. (Yes - I love deals on womens clothes and cosmetics & etc so marking F is appropriate in those cases). I promised myself when I went full time on July 24th, 2006 that I would never do to the male aspect of my spirit (I.E.: crush it and abuse it) what I had, in ignorance, done all the first years of my life to the female aspect of my spirit.

As usual I was not and am not telling anyone what to do - urging isn't telling - but it is interesting to see once again through the responses how diverse we all are just within the T part of the rainbow. I urge everyone to be true to themselves and follow their own conscience. I also urge anyone that feels like I do about their gender to stand up and be counted in whatever way you can. Be true to yourself; what you are and who you are is a wonderful blessing from your Creator so don't hide it and don't take the easy way out if doing so compromises who you are!

Hugs and Blessings,

Eva-Genevieve!

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. (Psa 27:13)

Census, Schmensus

Hi everyone,

Well, here's the "official" answer I got from the Census bureau about how to be counted as a transgender (or LGB) person. It basically says do nothing other than mark the boxes they have without modification and be satisfied with the smoke that they are blowing up our skirts.

They say just mark your preferred sex only and hope for future changes. Follow the link below and then the links on that page. You can see for yourself that there is absolutely nothing of substance there for us in spite of the fact they hired a trans-person to answer our questions.

I, for one, am not satisfied at this multi-billion dollar, over-budget method of being totally ignored and marginalized (again) by our Government and so I am urging everyone to make a third box labeled "Transgender" or "Transsexual" and then write in how you identify if you wish. But don't use the provided boxes - force them to hand tally these forms. It isn't much I know, but it is something we can do to let them know we we exist!

Hugs and Blessings,

Eva-Genevieve!

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Edward J. SanFilippo
To: Eva-Genevieve Scarborough
Sent: Wed, March 17, 2010 9:19:30 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: A question regarding transgender people

Hi Eva,

Thanks for getting in touch! As the Transgender Specialist for the
whole Census, this question is very important to me, which is why we
created the Transgender Fact Sheet, which can be found at
http://ourfamiliescount.org/census-bureau/ in the second link. The
document may not answer every question for the trans-community, but as
the first official outreach by the federal government, it's a great
start.

In your email to Matt, you expressed a lot of frustration about not
being able to mark 'trans' on the form. Obviously I understand this.
Unfortunately, changing/adding a question on the from takes years of
advocacy work and a mandate from the federal government. In general,
Congress must make the decision. To date, there has not been an
organized,long-term effort by the trans community to make this happen.
In a political climate where a fully-inclusive ENDA is so
controversial, I'm sure you understand how problematic the entire
issue can be.

Your best bet is to simply answer the question as truthfully as
possible (every individual decides what this means for themselves),
and of course, mail it back. The fact that my position exists within
the Census is a tremendous step forward, and one that hopefully
inspires you to stay engaged to make a difference on future forms. If
you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

-Ed

--
Edward J. SanFilippo
LGBT Partnership Specialist / Transgender Specialist
U.S. Census Bureau
(619) 864-5287