|  SEX-CHANGE
COMPLICATES PINOY’S DREAM OF BECOMING AN AMERICAN CITIZEN
TRANSSEXUAL CITIZENSHIP. Sharon
“Roni” Panlilio (second left), born a man,
but had a sex change to become a woman, with her attorney, Michael
J. Gurfinkel (second right). Despite bureaucratic red
tape over how to classify Roni (man or woman?), Atty Gurfinkel
successfully negotiated and resolved the case with US Citizenship
and Immigration Services, enabling Sharon to achieve her life-long
dream of becoming an American citizen.
Sharon “Roni” Panlilio dreamt of becoming
an American Citizen but Immigration officials were concerned about
Roni’s application for citizenship, because she was not
born a girl. Roni was born “Roland” Panlilio and had
a sex change operation in 1992. When he became eligible to apply
for U.S. citizenship, he wanted to do so as a woman. Unfortunately,
the U.S. government would not allow it without a court order.
Ironically, Panlilio immigrated to the United States
partly to escape the stares and gossip that he endured as a transsexual
living in the Philippines. “I guess every place has discrimination.
I just didn’t expect it from the government,” Panlilio
said.
Panlilio sought the help of congressmen, who inquired
about her application to the Immigration and Naturalization Service,
in the hopes of speeding up her naturalization. The INS deferred
the processing of her application, possibly because of what it
perceived as Congressional meddling, as well as concerns on how
to properly classify Roni: was he male or female?
“I had it with the system,” Panlilio
recalled. “Then I was referred to Michael Gurfinkel by a
friend who he helped become a citizen.”
Filipinos have come to know the popular attorney
as “The Attorney to the Stars,” because of his star-studded
client list, such as Regine Velasquez, Gina Alajar, and Christopher
De Leon, to name a few. The Law Office of Michael J. Gurfinkel, Inc.
with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Philippines,
has helped thousands of people achieve their dreams of legalizing
their status and becoming American citizens.
When Roni approached him for help, Gurfinkel immediately
recognized the possible socio-political repercussions with Panlilio’s
citizenship application, in light of the continuing controversy
over gender issues this election year.
“Roni’s application should have been
simple, but I needed to take the politics out of the equation,
or else it would never get approved,” Gurfinkel said.
Gurfinkel called the immigration officials, to quickly
solve the problem, and got them to agree to an elegant solution
that satisfied all parties. By cutting through all the red tape
and complex social and legal issues, Gurfinkel solved a seemingly
hopeless immigration problems in record time, and helped Roni
fulfill her American dream of becoming a U.S. Citizen.
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