When I started transitioning the current standard of care for medical care required 1 year of “real life experience”. What was RLE? It meant living as your felt gender openly for 1 year and having someone in your life vouch for that (ie; a teacher, employer, doctor…).
Why was this a problem? Well first: it forces people to live out without any gender-affirming medical support to do so. People access care to better be able to live in their felt gender, so this was often forcing people into discomfort at the least and danger at the most.
It was also a requirement at the time to access transition-related medical care before you could legally change your ID. So unless you had an understanding boss/school etc. this requirement could be a catch 22 since they might use your legal sex to prevent you from coming out in these places in your life.
It’s also just a wild invasion of privacy. I had to ask my boss to write a RLE letter for me. She was so supportive but so confused and wrote something like “I’ve known Lucas for a year, he is a great employee”.
I’m so happy RLE doesn’t exist anymore. If someone is asking for help to live their authentic gender they help should be provided… that already vulnerable person shouldn’t be forced to be more vulnerable for a year before getting support.