A Little Ray Of Sunshine

Just a small one but still a little brightness in the gloom,

Transgender people in North Carolina no longer required to provide proof of surgery to correct birth certificates
Story at a glance Transgender people born in North Carolina are now able to alter their gender marker on their birth certificates regardless of whether they have undergone gender-affirming surgery, a federal judge said Thursday. The ruling stems from a Lambda Legal lawsuit filed last year alleging the state’s surgical requirement erected unnecessary and discriminatory…

• Transgender people born in North Carolina are now able to alter their gender marker on their birth certificates regardless of whether they have undergone gender-affirming surgery, a federal judge said Thursday.
• The ruling stems from a Lambda Legal lawsuit filed last year alleging the state’s surgical requirement erected unnecessary and discriminatory barriers for transgender people wishing to correct their birth certificates.
• Transgender people in most other states are not easily able to alter their gender identity on official state-issued documents.
• Transgender people born in North Carolina are now able to alter their gender marker on their birth certificates regardless of whether they have undergone gender-affirming surgery, a federal judge said Thursday.

The Hill
By Brooke Migdon
June 23, 2022


Transgender people born in North Carolina are now able to alter their gender marker on their birth certificates regardless of whether they have undergone gender-affirming surgery, a federal judge said Thursday.

Under a consent judgment issued by U.S. District Court Judge Loretta C. Biggs, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and other state government officials must provide corrected birth certificates to transgender applicants regardless of whether they have undergone gender-affirming surgery.

In seeking to change the gender marker on their birth certificates, transgender North Carolinans will still be required to provide “supporting documentary evidence” of their gender identity, including an accurate driver’s license or identification card, valid U.S. passport or certification from a physician or mental health professional stating the gender identity.

Ah… that explains it. It wasn’t the legislature but rather a court that brought about the change. A court challenge by Lambda Legal saying the policy placed an excessive burden on us.

Thursday’s ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal last year on behalf of three plaintiffs who were unable to obtain birth certificates reflecting their gender identity.

“The State of North Carolina now must recognize us for who we are,” Lillith Campos, a transgender woman born in North Carolina and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said Thursday in a statement released by her attorneys.

The Constitution says other states have to recognize legal rulings in Article IV Section I which says,

Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

Simple but sweet.

What that means is if a state says that the person born in the state is female all the other states has to recognize that. Basically it says that if a couple same-sex couple is married legally in one state all the other states must recognize that marriage. This is something that is going become very important for the LGBTQ community if Roe v Wade is overturned because the Republicans what to overturn marriage equality and other of are hard won rights.

What a legal nightmare it is going to create is say Florida bans same-sex marriages and a couple goes to Connecticut to get married under the Constitution that marriage must be recognized, the same with our birth certificates.