A writer sends a missive concerning my post about gender self-identification and passports:
Passport officers don’t ask you to drop your pants. Between the photograph and a fingerprint, that ought to be more than enough to reasonably identify a person without doing a nude body examination.
I see fingerprints as problematic. There has been at least one case of two unrelated individuals having identical fingerprints (and it nearly got one of them jailed), not to mention identical twins will also share fingerprints. Fingerprints can be modified, and while the same goes for genitalia, the latter is easily detected; I don’t know how detectable a change of fingerprints turns out to be.
Then there’s the fact that a fingerprint is not a requirement on passports at the present time, and I think attempting to make it a requirement would cause a controversy and retreat.
Passport officers do not in general. However, I recall running into one in Schipol Airport who was all ready to apply physical techniques on me if I didn’t take my hands out of my pockets at a security checkpoint. I do not have the least doubt that, if there’s a question, you will be asked to drop them – or spend time in the local hoosegow.
Also, Hue, you have no idea Zzyym’s body might be like — maybe legitimate hermaphrodite or intersex (from birth or during partial transition).
Actually, I did raise the point that since those were not mentioned, this had to do with self-identification, i.e., mental, and not physical.
The really concerning thing to me is that the State department is refusing to follow a federal court order. Rule of law, anyone?
Agreed, but it’s a separate issue that the courts will need to settle. I know there’s some worry in legal circles about a scenario in which the Administration refuses to follow judicial directives, which is not unprecedented but is very unusual.
