It’s a New World-Redefining Family
Recent family events have caused me to wonder how certain events are being recorded genealogically. Genealogists routinely record birth, marriage and death events. What happens when events aren’t that routine?
Take adoption for example. Genealogists have a way to record if a child is adopted. With new DNA technology, it may now be possible to find out who the biological parents are, if they were not known before. How is that recorded? We have the ability to record a remarriage and step-parents and step-children. Do we record birth parents the same way, as just a second set of parents? I guess a genealogy program would have the ability to track the family lines of both sets of parents, if desired.
How about surrogate births? As I understand it, the surrogate mother could be implanted with an embryo that has none of her genes, or by agreement, might have her genes and the husband of the woman who can’t have children. Would this surrogate mother be recorded genealogically at all? She could be left out, but possible DNA might still enter the picture. Would you enter two mothers at that point?
What about gender reassignments? Strangely enough, we might first to have a conversation about what defines a sex. In some courts that may be defined by chromosomes not what’s written on a legal document.
In the United States, these issues are determined at the state level, and are different from state to state. Some states make decisions dependant on the steps the person has taken towards their transition including psychological therapy, hormone therapy, or even sex reassignment surgery a requirement.
All of the states allow the gender marker to be changed on a driver’s license, although the requirements for doing so vary by state, they are usually less stringent than those for changing the marker on the birth certificate.
The State Department determines what identifying biographical information is placed on passports. On June 10, 2010, the policy on gender changes was amended to allow permanent gender marker changes to be made with the statement of a physician that “the applicant has had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition to the new gender.”
Adoption, surrogate mothers, and gender reassignment
Many states require sex reassignment surgery to change their name and gender marker. Sex reassignment surgery is generally the final medical procedure in a complete gender reassignment, and is a procedure which many trans people find financially prohibitive, thus making it harder to change the name and gender marker.
Transgender people often seek legal recognition for a name during a gender transition. In some states, transgender people can change their name. In other states, the process requires a court order. Some courts require medical or psychiatric documentation to justify a name change
Many countries allow the option of a third gender. As of 2017, the federal government does not recognize a third gender option on passports or other national identity documents. In 2016, the US had their first case to legally change their gender to non-binary. Intersex, hermaphrodite’ sex marker, non-binary “X” gender marker, D.C. policy change went into effect on June 27, making the district the first place in the U.S. to offer gender-neutral driver’s licenses and ID cards. In these cases, the sexual reassignment surgery is considered medically unnecessary. How will genealogists record the recording of a third gender?
Most states permit the name and sex to be changed on a birth certificate, either through amending the existing birth certificate or by issuing a new one (changing the old one would be preferred from this point of view, as it would allow genealogists the ability to track the name change, like my mother’s legal name change). Many states, however, require medical proof of sex reassignment surgery in order to warrant a gender marker change. So, if the birth certificate is changed, how will genealogists track that in the future? And if such a change is made and you had copies of both birth certificates, how would you record that in your records?
It’s a new world. Genealogists now have more challenges in recording their family’s history. What new challenges are you facing and how are you recording it?
