Tag: Social Security Administration

Feb 01 2014

It’s never too late to discriminate

photo Robina-Asti_CURRENTX400_zps7ad6b395.jpgRobina Asti is 92 years old and has been recognized by the government as a woman for over 30 years.  She transitioned in 1976.  She is a commercial pilot and the FAA has recognized her as a woman ever since they awarded her a license.  She has made a living teaching people how to fly airplanes.  The government issued her a passport designating her to be a woman.  Her Social Security account labels her a woman.

Robina is a WWII veteran, having served as a Navy pilot.  She is currently locked in a battle with the Social Security Administration…which she is losing.

In 2004 Robina married Norwood Patton in Hanger A of Orange County Airport in New York.  Norwood new she was a transsexual woman, but he didn’t care.  Oh, he was upset at first, but he got over it in a week.  He asked her to get married every month for a lot of years.

Norwood died in 2012 at the age of 97.  So Robina asked the Social Security Administration for survivors benefits.  After almost a year of review, she was denied.  

The reason?

[H]er marriage does not meet the requirements under Federal law for payment of Social Security widow’s benefits.  

At the time of your marriage, you were not legally a woman.

May 26 2012

The Social Security Administration’s Equality Problem

The ACLU and the National Center for Transgender Equality have joined together to write a letter to the Social Security Administration expressing concern over the lack of action by the SSA on policy matters important to transpeople.

Areas of concern addressed in the letter include the need for an updated policy for changing information (eg. name, gender) on SSA records, revision of guidance regarding marriages involving a transgender spouse to accurately reflect state and federal laws, and the phasing out of the use of gender data in SSA computer matching programs.

The ACLU views the ability of transgender people to have identifying documents and records that accurately and consistently reflect their lived gender as essential.  As the coalition letter states, having identification and records that misrepresent one’s lived gender “outs” a transgender person in any situation where he or she needs to rely on these records, whether for purposes of employment or conducting business with state and local government offices.  This not only violates the privacy rights of transgender people, it also puts them at serious risk for discrimination, especially in the 34 states that currently lack explicit nondiscrimination protections for individuals based on gender identity.

As the ACLU says on its Discrimination Against Transgender People page,

The ACLU champions the rights of transgender people to live their lives freely and with respect.  We fight for protections against discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations (including schools), and health care.  We also challenge obstacles to people obtaining government identity documents respectful of their gender identity, as well as barriers to transgender parents seeking continuing relationships with their children.