Montana to let transgender people change their birth record

HELENA, Mont. — After months of defiance, Montana’s health department says it will follow a judge’s ruling and temporarily allow transgender people to change the gender on their birth certificates.

In a written order Monday morning, the judge said state health officials had made “calculated violations” of his order earlier this year to temporarily stop enforcing a state law that would prevent transgender people from changing the gender on their birth certificate.

The health department passed a rule saying no one could change the sex on their birth certificate unless there was a clerical error. Under the order, transgender residents can obtain a corrected birth certificate by submitting a sworn affidavit to the health department.

In April, District Judge Michael Moses temporarily blocked a law passed by the Republican-controlled 2021 Legislature that would require transgender residents to undergo a surgical procedure and obtain a court order before being able to change the sex on their birth certificate. He said the law, which did not specify what kind of surgery would be required, was unconstitutionally vague.

Rather than returning to a 2017 rule that allowed transgender residents to file an affidavit with the health department to correct the gender on their birth certificate, the state instead issued a rule saying a person’s gender could not be changed at all, unless there was a clerical error.

The health department “refused to issue corrections to birth certificates for weeks in violation of the order,” Moses wrote.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana had requested the judicial clarification due to the state’s inaction.

“All that’s left is for the department to comply with the order and if they don’t, the consequences are clear,” said Alex Rate, an attorney for the ACLU of Montana.