Kansas will now allow transgender people to change their birth certificates to reflect their gender identities.
A settlement between four transgender members of the Kansas Statewide Transgender Education Project and state officials will reverse the current Kansas policy on birth certificate gender modifications. U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree affirmed the agreement Friday evening.
Kansas law allows for sex changes on birth certificates if the biological sex of a child was incorrectly assigned at birth. Statute prohibits a change in gender on a birth certificate to reflect the gender identity of a transgender person.
“Accurate identity documents are essential to every person’s ability to navigate through life,” the complaint read. “Access to employment, education, housing, health care, banking, travel, and government services often depend on having documentation that accurately reflects a person’s identity.”
The plaintiffs, represented by national LGBT-rights group, Lambda Legal alleged that “Kansas’s Birth Certificate Policy … violated the United States Constitution’s guarantees to equal dignity, equal protection of the laws, liberty, privacy, freedom of expression, and freedom from compelled speech.”
Among those named in the October 2018 lawsuit were Jeff Andersen, Kansas Secretary of the Department of Health and Environment; Dr. Elizabeth Saadi, State Registrar; and Kay Haug, Director of Vital Statistics.
In 2018, federal judges in Idaho and Puerto Rico ruled that categorical exclusions based on gender or gender identity were in violation of equal protection and the right to privacy. Kansas settled in light of these decisions.
“This judgement makes me feel safer and like my state finally recognizes me as a woman,” Nyla Foster, a plaintiff on the case said.
According to NBC, supporters of the Kansas policy view birth certificates as historical records that document information known at the time of birth.
Ohio and Tennessee are the only states that still prohibit transgender sex changes to birth certificates. Lawsuits concerning the issue have been filed in both states.
