A court decision in Canada has struck down a law requiring Gender-reassignment Surgery (GRS) as a precondition to having one’s gender changed on their documentation.

There are undoubtedly people on both sides of this issue who will be unhappy about it – post-op transsexuals who may feel that anyone who can tolerate the “bits” of the opposite gender is not truly transsexual, and others who may feel that this just makes it too easy to play games with one’s gender and official documentation.

But, remember that most people who eventually undergo gender reassignment surgery spend years living as the gender opposite to what their identification indicates. They do this for financial reasons, or even for reasons of uncertainty and fear of going through with the surgery. They are not fooling around; this is serious business in their lives, and having a passport or ID that matches the gender they are living is important.

One need look no further than Canada’s law about refusing to board any passenger who appears not to be the gender on their ID. This kind of regulation is annoying for me, but I can easily cope. Someone who has been living exclusively as female, perhaps taking hormones, etc., but shows “male” on their passport will likely have both practical and emotional difficulties with this law.

In the end, simply stated, striking down this law gives effect to what many of us have been saying – that one’s gender is not in their pants.