Transgendered people are amongst the most put down, discriminated against minority groups in Australian and New Zealand society. Us trannies simply don’t fit into the macho, beer swilling, ‘poofta bashing’ stereotypes that exist here. I, for one, am thankful that we don’t.

Trannies are all to often the subject of vilification. This is where people make snide remarks about, or ridicule trannies. It’s almost always done behind your back. For some stupid reason, mainstream society likes to make transgendered people the butt of the joke. Indeed, television here makes an artform out of ridiculing trannies. You just have to watch ‘The Footy Show’ for a few episodes to see what I mean.

In all areas, you’ll find examples of discrimination. Government departments will refuse to recognise your new gender. On transitioning, you’re almost guaranteed of losing your job. You’ll be the subject of harassment and abuse on the streets. Life is just not easy.

When transitioning, one of the primary things that you will want to do is change all of your details. This includes;

• Birth certificate,
• Drivers licence,
• Passport (if you want one),
• Medical and tax records,
• Bank accounts,
• School results,
• etc, etc.

Ideally, of course, you'd be able to turn up at the front counter of the relevant place, say 'Hi, I'd like to change my personal particulars', fill in the relevant forms, tick 'F' where it asks for sex, (I'm a M->F, can you tell?) and that would be it. All reference to your old name, and your old sex, would disappear.

The editor now stops daydreaming, and comes to grips with something resembling reality. At the moment, society doesn't much like us (and you only just figured that out), and they'd like to pretend that we don't exist. Depending on where you live, where you were born, what school you went to, and even how well you get on with the person behind the counter, you probably won't be able to change very much.

There are, in some states of Australia, and the Kiwis seem to be blessed here, legislation that says 'thou shalt' to all the major ones, like birth certificates and drivers licences. The editor happens to be born in Victoria, which won't have anything to do with changing birth certificates, under no circumstances, and lives in the ACT, which takes much the same attitude with drivers licences (yes, they do state the sex on the bloody thing). Oh well. At least the uni I went to is cool about it all. However, things are looking up, as I’ve got them up before the ACT Human Rights Commissioner for discrimination, and I think they’re finally starting to listen.

Now, given that everything is hard, and people usually need to be pressed before they'll grant you concessions, we've decided to throw the collective wisdom of the maintainers, plus some excerpts of relevant legislation and manuals of operation, into the guide, in the vain hope that others will have something resembling a springboard from which to start.

The first thing to remember when dealing with those legendary front counter staff, is that the main thing they want you to do is to go away, so they can get back to their coffee. Therefore, anything you can do to make their jobs easier will get you a long way. Be polite, be courteous, adopt an 'I'm a poor lost lamb, and I need your help' expression, and let them help you, ensuring you give them all the help they need.

If you're good at it, you can occasionally get results despite the system being set up to make changes impossible. One of my friends (who shall remain nameless) changed the sex on her drivers licence (Queensland) by first changing the photo and name, as you are of course allowed to do, then fronting up to a different rego office, with that fantastic 'I'm lost, help me' expression on her face. She told the poor twit behind the counter that she'd just got her new licence, and that they'd made a terrible mistake. Sure enough, the same mistake was reflected in her computer records, so he fixed the lot for her, on the spot. It's probably not legal, but I for one don't give a damn. Hmmm... Knowing the girl in question, she probably managed to get the guys home phone number and arrange a dinner date at the same time. But then, she's like that. ;)

In certain cases, like when you know you'll get knocked back if they look at the policy, it can be useful to try one of the small offices, because the front counter staff most likely won't know they aren't supposed to let you change that, and may simply comply with your request.