What a terrible ruling, so many trans people are going to be outed because birth certificates are often used as identification.
this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2024
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Gender Recognition is multifaceted. Different jurisdictions may hold different concepts about how gender is recognized. In some places gender is legally formulated but this is not to mean that the sex marker on the birth certificate can be changed. Additionally, gender recognition may require medical interventions, sterilization, a psychiatric diagnosis. Some may require several, others none, of the above. Obviously this leads to a nuanced situation.
- Places where gender is formulated in the law generically (Most places with a 10 in the World Freedom Index)
- Places where people can get gender in IDs and driver licenses but not birth certificates (UK until recent times)
- Places where people can get gender changed in birth certificate but with surgery or forced sterilization (Sweden, Germany,Iran)
- Places where people can get gender changed in birth certificate with court orders (Greece)
- Places where people can get gender changed without formal requirements (Malta)
- ...Many other combinations of the above
One problem with this is that noone keeps track. Many reporting bodies can count any of the above as 'gender recognition in law'.
Some relevant stuff: http://them.us/story/federal-judge-blocks-biden-trans-inclusive-title-ix-rules https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/historic-japan-court-ruling-allows-trans-woman-to-change-gender-without-surgery/ar-BB1pViLF
Source: Sociology coursework on trans issues, so some info might be outdated.
My first thought then though is that that's an argument against using, or requiring, a birth certificate as ID.
Problematic as it certainly could be, it seems to me that this ruling is fundamentally correct, since a birth certificate is not a record of a person's identity over time, but of their identity at one and only one point in time - at birth. Not just in this case but in all cases, it would seem that the idea of updating a birth certificate is inherently flawed.
Possibly the best solution would be to omit information about sex from birth certificates entirely.
Trans people don't change gender. They stop hiding it.
Updating a birth certificate is fixing an error
It's also a strange point to hold ideologically. Why is "at birth" an ideal to hold above others? In literally any circumstance where a birth certificate is needed, "now" is going to be more useful than information that is decades out of date. Nothing is gained from holding to an ideal that puts out of date information above current information, so appeals to treat it as sacrosanct always make me wonder exactly what it is that makes people put pointless ideals above the very real impact incorrect information has
"At birth" isn't an ideal - it's a fact. FFS - it's in the actual name of the certificate.
The exact and only point of a birth certificate is to record that on such-and-such date at such-and-such time, a baby was born to [this] person, and it possessed [these] distinguishing characteristics. That's it. Who or what that baby became later in life isn't relevant. At all.
In literally any circumstance where a birth certificate is needed, “now” is going to be more useful than information that is decades out of date.
Which is in fact exactly why I said that "that’s an argument against using, or requiring, a birth certificate as ID" - because a birth certificate, of necessity, is a record of information that's significantly out-of-date.
The ideal in question isn't "at birth", it's whatever it is that drives folk to think "at birth" somehow matters more than "now"
because a birth certificate, of necessity, is a record of information that's significantly out-of-date.
There is no such necessity. I live in Australia. Here, trans folk can get their birth certificate amended to reflect their correct gender.
If it was a "necessity" that it not be changed, that wouldn't be possible.
Your insistence that it can't be changed "for reasons" isn't a necessity, it's an ideal (and a harmful one at that).
The problem is that it's necessary to update a birth certificate if you change your name. So, a birth certificate is a record of your history but is mutable. This really just boils down to the question of why would one's government need a record of their sex?
I saw this on all and I realise where I am and support all of you in your right to exist and be safe. The last time this came up I was met with the realisation that a birth cert is used for loads of official documentation in America. To me a birth cert shows your status at birth, if you transition or change your name then a new form should exist as an addendum to update your birth cert.