Robina Asti is 92 years old and has been recognized by the government as a woman for over 30 years. She transitioned in 1976. She is a commercial pilot and the FAA has recognized her as a woman ever since they awarded her a license. She has made a living teaching people how to fly airplanes. The government issued her a passport designating her to be a woman. Her Social Security account labels her a woman.
Robina is a WWII veteran, having served as a Navy pilot. She is currently locked in a battle with the Social Security Administration…which she is losing.
In 2004 Robina married Norwood Patton in Hanger A of Orange County Airport in New York. Norwood new she was a transsexual woman, but he didn’t care. Oh, he was upset at first, but he got over it in a week. He asked her to get married every month for a lot of years.
Norwood died in 2012 at the age of 97. So Robina asked the Social Security Administration for survivors benefits. After almost a year of review, she was denied.
The reason?
[H]er marriage does not meet the requirements under Federal law for payment of Social Security widow’s benefits.
At the time of your marriage, you were not legally a woman.