The reluctant activist: she wanted a happily ever after. Immigration officials had other plans.

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.

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What is your identity?

I'm a good human being. I am more than a woman--physically, spiritually, emotionally.

How has your family been treated because of this case?

I was in the news, so [my sister's] co-workers [in Las Vegas] saw me. I go and I stay at the hotel once every two months; that's where I party in Vegas. I know all the pit bosses. They saw me on TV. They found out I was a trans. They started laughing at her. She got offended by it. I was peeved by her reaction, that she would be embarrassed, instead of being proud of me. That was her initial reaction. But then she switched gears.

"You don't know my sister very well," she said. "She sent me through college. She sent me through school. She's such a strong sister. You'd better shut up, because you don't know her."

How did you and Jiffy meet?

I met Jiffy while I was on vacation in Cebu. He was living in a boarding house with six other people. Unlike the other men I met at a party, he was shy and didn't flirt with me.

The first night we made love, I had to tell him. I don't know why. I normally don't. I said, "Jiffy, haven't you heard anything about me?" He said, "What?" I said, "I am a trans." "Oh," he said. "You're beautiful." Can you imagine an attitude like that? He's very secure.

I went home again, to check him out. So, we were together again every day. This time, he was living with us. Before I left I asked him, "Jiffy, do you want to go to the States?" He didn't say anything. He thought I was joking. I said, "Let's get married." He's not gay. He's straight. He never had an affair with a gay man. He fell in love with me because I am a woman.

What happened the day you went to the Department of Homeland Security for his green card?

It was the second interview. The first was just to ask questions. "Show us some pictures." "Do you have a criminal record?" Then they asked us to produce more documents: tax records. They wanted to make sure I was supporting him and that he was not going to be a drain to our social system. Then we did the last interview for the green card.

The girl that was interviewing us was very kind: Sergeant Battle. She made me so comfortable. She even said, "Oh, you know that you're the best." After we heard this, Jiffy and I were saying, "We got it." Everything that we said was consistent.

They asked questions: "What was your last gift?" "When was the last time you went out?" Everything was right. Then we were just filling out the form, babbling with each other. I said, "You know why I love my husband so much is because, despite the fact that I am trans, he still loves me." "Oh?" she said. "You're transsexual. Oh, that's great."

She grabbed a piece a paper and said, "Donita, can you just sign this?"

"What is this?"

"Oh, just acknowledging that you're transsexual." That's not what it was saying.

What was the form?

The form was me withdrawing my petition for Jiffy. She lied; she conned me. She took advantage that I did not read what I was signing, because we wanted to get out of that place. We didn't want to be in the immigration office. Three weeks thereafter, denial.

The letter stated that the denial couldn't be appealed.

But July, August, September, October, he still had a work permit. The only way I could change it was to sue them through the federal court. I sued the INS for declaring my marriage null and void, and for considering it a gay marriage.

They've extended his work visa for another year but denied the marriage.

They don't want a trial. You know why? Everything is in favor of me and my husband. It's a mockery of the system. It's anxiously implementing such a stupid law that does not even apply to us. This is not a gay marriage.

Why do you think they focused on you and Jiffy? And did it have to do with being Filipinos?

They thought they could just hastily decide on something and not carefully look at the whole situation. Had I not been honest, Jiffy would have a green card right now. But I've always been upfront and honest with dealing with anybody--much more so with the INS, which supposedly had a record of me. But they did not even know that I was transsexual until my last interview.

Maybe because I'm Asian and they think they can discriminate against me. Maybe because they think I would not fight back. Maybe because they think I'm stupid. Or maybe because there's now a growing anti-Filipino sentiment after Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pulled out troops from Iraq.

It's not just me. They're cutting nurses coming here to the United States. They're now picking on Filipinos who are illegal here; they're shipping them home. This is an anti-Filipino movement by George W. Bush, revenge on Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

There's now a new law passed by Congress that we are no longer allowed to protest or fight any decision by the Department of Homeland Security. In other words, whatever their decision is it's final. You can't go to court to sue them. You can't appeal; you can't say no.

Ronald Pineda is a freelance journalist. He lives in Alameda, California.