The reluctant activist: she wanted a happily ever after. Immigration officials had other plans.(q & a)(Donita Ganzon)(Interview)

Before Donita Ganzon filed her lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security last November, she made sure her family knew a few things. The first was that they might be thrust into the spotlight. The second was that this attention might not always be positive. And third was that--if they didn't already know--she is transsexual.

Ganzon had immigrated from the Phillippines in the 1970s to work as a nurse. Shortly after arriving, she realized that although she had been born into a man's body, she was a woman. In 1981, she underwent sex reassignment surgery in Colorado and a few years later became a U.S. citizen. All of her paperwork reflected that she was a woman, so Ganzon, now 58, didn't think she had any reason to worry when she met Jiffy Javanella in the Philippines in 2001. He was 30 years her junior, and the two quickly fell in love. Soon, Javanella was on a plane bound for Los Angeles, where Ganzon lived, and, by the end of the year, they were married.

Ganzon's story should have had a storybook ending. But last year, when she and her husband applied for his green card to become a permanent resident, the interviewer learned that she was once a man, and their request was denied under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the legal union between a man and woman. Ganzon decided to fight and sued the government for discriminating against them because of her sex change.

At the time, Ganzon didn't identify with the lesbian, gay and transgender community. She identified as a woman. Her ideal life didn't include being in the public eye, and she thought that same-sex couples should not marry because it was against the law. Since then, Ganzon has come to realize that it's important to tell her story. However reluctantly at first, she is now an activist for LGBT rights, speaking at political events in San Francisco and trying to stage a one-woman show chronicling her journey.

After giving this interview, Ganzon and Javanella received an update from the Department of Homeland Security. In a letter sent directly to her lawyer, the government says that it is "reopening this case to reevaluate the records and to determine the most appropriate course of action." "Is that a step ahead?" Ganzon says. "Not really." Meanwhile, Javanella is reapplying for a work permit, and in March, the Department of Homeland Security notified the couple that it is reconsidering its decision.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

What is your identity?