Court: Ohio must allow gender changes on birth certificates
In response to a lawsuit brought by four transgender people, a federal court found Ohio’s birth certificate rule unconstitutional. The state is likely to appeal.
Credit: Getty Images Published: 4:57 PM EST December 16, 2020 Updated: 5:13 PM EST December 16, 2020
Ohio can’t keep refusing to allow people to change the gender listings on their birth certificates, a federal court ruled Wednesday.
In response to a lawsuit brought by four transgender people, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio found Ohio’s birth certificate rule imposed by the state Department of Health and the Office of Vital Statistics is unconstitutional.
2020/12/17 05:13 COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Ohio can’t keep refusing to allow people to change the gender listings on their birth certificates, a federal court ruled Wednesday. In response to a lawsuit brought by four transgender people, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio found Ohio’s birth certificate rule imposed by the state Department of Health and the Office of Vital Statistics is unconstitutional. The state is likely to appeal. Judge Michael Watson rejected the state of Ohio s arguments that the policy helped prevent fraud and maintain a historically accurate record of its citizenry. He called such justifications nothing more than thinly veiled post-hoc rationales to deflect from the discriminatory impact of the policy.”