A new administrative rule adopted by
Montana's public health department effectively prohibits transgender
people from changing the sex on their birth certificate with few
exceptions.
The new policy only allows changes to a
person's listed sex on their birth certificate if it was the “result
of a scrivener's error or a data entry error” or if it was proven
to be incorrect by “chromosomal, molecular, karyotypic, DNA, or
genetic testing.”
The rule makes Montana one of the most
restrictive states in the nation for transgender people who wish to
change their gender on their birth certificate.
Similar laws have been enacted in
Tennessee, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.
In May, Republican Governor Greg
Gianforte's administration introduced a similar rule on an emergency
basis. The ALCU of Montana challenged the rule in court. Judge
Michael Moses will this week hear arguments in the case.
Judge Moses in April temporarily
blocked a Montana law that only allowed transgender people to change
the sex on their birth certificate if they have had a “surgical
procedure.”
Democrats called the administration's
decision to adopt the rule despite Moses' order a “blatant abuse of
power.”