I was one of the two transgender men in the successful ACLU lawsuit that led to West Virginia updating its policy on correcting gender markers on birth certificates. After years of government red tape, deadnaming, misgendering and more, I was finally able to be legally recognized as the man that I am.
However, the continued legislative attacks on my community have left me seriously considering moving from the state I was born and raised in once I’ve completed my degree.
It took five years to update my birth certificate and other ID documents in West Virginia to correctly reflect my name and gender.
I had to pay hundreds of dollars, place ads in my local newspaper, and endure a public court hearing just to get a birth certificate with my female name crossed out and my true name typed above it. I had been so excited that I drove the nearly five hours to the Vital Registration Office in Charleston to pick up my new certificate in person. To say I was disappointed when I saw it for the first time would be an understatement.
The process to change my gender marker was even more arduous.
I was required to pay more money for a second court hearing, obtain supporting letters form therapists and doctors I didn’t need to see, sign more petitions and affidavits, educate government officials who didn’t understand the process, have a gender affirming surgery (I was on the waiting list for six months and had to pay out of pocket), and travel out of state for three years to undergo hormone therapy (because I could not find a doctor in WV that would prescribe me my medication). Although I wanted these medical procedures, it’s important to remember that many trans people do not, and that some of these procedures can leave people unable to have children. This is a form of eugenics.
After all of the bureaucratic acrobatics I endured, I received a letter in the mail denying my petition for a gender marker change. The letter referred to me as the wrong gender several times. It felt like a slap in the face.
The story would have ended there if Jack Jarvis from Fairness West Virginia had not reached out to me. He got me in touch with ACLU-WV. Malita Picasso and Taylor Brown at ACLU National led my case with help from ACLU-WV and the LGBTQ+ Clinic at Harvard Law. I am incredibly thankful for all they have done.
As a result of the settlement, the gender marker on my birth certificate will now identify me as male. My previous name and gender marker will not be present, but my birth certificate will indicate the exact sections which were amended. This is not a perfect resolution, but my birth certificate now legally recognizes me as who I am.
There remains no gender marker option for people who do not identify as male or female in West Virginia. Our work is far from done.
And I wasn’t able to celebrate for long. A few weeks after the settlement in my case, lawmakers in Charleston ramped up their attacks on trans people. They severely restricted gender affirming care options for young people, and I lost count of the number of transphobic bills they introduced.
I hear over and over again that West Virginia’s population is aging and that we need to retain young college-educated people, but the Legislature’s regressive and bigoted agenda is only pushing us away faster.
I’m glad I finally have all of my West Virginia ID documents corrected, but as other states become safer places for trans people to call home as compared to West Virginia, I’m not sure how much longer I’ll live here.
Xavier Hersom
Martinsburg