The ideal in question isn’t “at birth”, it’s whatever it is that drives folk to think “at birth” somehow matters more than “now”
If that’s the point you want to argue, you’ll have to go find somebody who holds that ideal, which means someone other than me.
My point is and always has been very simple - a birth certificate is a just that - a record that on some specific date at some specific time, a baby was born to some specific person. That’s it. That’s all it is.
That doesn’t mean or even imply that “‘at birth’ matters more than ‘now’.” It means that a birth certificate has one and only one job - to record a birth - and anything and everything after that is some other document’s job.
And in fact, I would say it’s undeniable that “now” is more important than “at birth,” which, again, is exactly why the very first thing I said was that, to me, the whole issue is an argument against using, or requiring, a birth certificate for ID.
To me, it’s as if you’re arguing that a doorbell should also be a microwave oven, and when I point out that a doorbell’s job is to be a doorbell, you accuse me of holding the “ideal” that doorbells are more important than microwave ovens.
As I said, Australian birth certificates don’t work the way you describe. They aren’t static and locked in to “at birth” as they’re able to be updated.
The fact that many birth certificates work this way means that treating “at birth” as sacrosanct isn’t a requirement. It’s a preference. And in this case, a preference that actively hurts people, whilst helping no one. You value a false notion of data purity over the lived reality of the people whose lives are damaged by not being able to update their birth certificates.
Even your fix works around the idea that data can’t be changed or updated, when the simplest solution, in place already in many countries, is to let go of the idea that old data is somehow more important than the people that data is from
And that’s it. No matter how many times and in how many different ways I explain my point, you insist on dishonestly assigning sinister motives to me, and there’s absolutely no reason I need to take that sort of abuse from anyone.
Do they maintain a record of it’s alterations though.
Ed: answer yes, so there is still record that it is not your birth gender it just isn’t easily accessible unless the legal system gets involved.
If you were born in N.S.W. and have had gender reassignment surgery, you can
apply to have your birth certificate amended to reflect your correct gender. The new
birth certificate will not show that you have changed your gender, but there will be a
note on your new certificate that says your birth was “previously registered in
another name”. Your birth will be registered in the current year showing the new
sex. Access to your original birth record is restricted by legislation, but can be
accessed under certain circumstances
Yep, which is fine. A record of all amendments to official documents is expected. That’s not the issue though. The issue is the version of the document that people need to use in daily life. And that should be relevant and current.
The ideal in question isn’t “at birth”, it’s whatever it is that drives folk to think “at birth” somehow matters more than “now”
There is no such necessity. I live in Australia. Here, trans folk can get their birth certificate amended to reflect their correct gender.
If it was a “necessity” that it not be changed, that wouldn’t be possible.
Your insistence that it can’t be changed “for reasons” isn’t a necessity, it’s an ideal (and a harmful one at that).
If that’s the point you want to argue, you’ll have to go find somebody who holds that ideal, which means someone other than me.
My point is and always has been very simple - a birth certificate is a just that - a record that on some specific date at some specific time, a baby was born to some specific person. That’s it. That’s all it is.
That doesn’t mean or even imply that “‘at birth’ matters more than ‘now’.” It means that a birth certificate has one and only one job - to record a birth - and anything and everything after that is some other document’s job.
And in fact, I would say it’s undeniable that “now” is more important than “at birth,” which, again, is exactly why the very first thing I said was that, to me, the whole issue is an argument against using, or requiring, a birth certificate for ID.
To me, it’s as if you’re arguing that a doorbell should also be a microwave oven, and when I point out that a doorbell’s job is to be a doorbell, you accuse me of holding the “ideal” that doorbells are more important than microwave ovens.
As I said, Australian birth certificates don’t work the way you describe. They aren’t static and locked in to “at birth” as they’re able to be updated.
The fact that many birth certificates work this way means that treating “at birth” as sacrosanct isn’t a requirement. It’s a preference. And in this case, a preference that actively hurts people, whilst helping no one. You value a false notion of data purity over the lived reality of the people whose lives are damaged by not being able to update their birth certificates.
Even your fix works around the idea that data can’t be changed or updated, when the simplest solution, in place already in many countries, is to let go of the idea that old data is somehow more important than the people that data is from
And that’s it. No matter how many times and in how many different ways I explain my point, you insist on dishonestly assigning sinister motives to me, and there’s absolutely no reason I need to take that sort of abuse from anyone.
Blocked.
“I’m not an idealisist! I’m just so upset by your insistence that data purity doesn’t trump the needs of living people, that I’m going to block you!”
Do they maintain a record of it’s alterations though.
Ed: answer yes, so there is still record that it is not your birth gender it just isn’t easily accessible unless the legal system gets involved.
Yep, which is fine. A record of all amendments to official documents is expected. That’s not the issue though. The issue is the version of the document that people need to use in daily life. And that should be relevant and current.