Connecticut Birth Certificate Tool Kit
GLAD Publishes Toolkit to Assist Transgender People Making Changes
Last week, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signed into law a bill that updates the state’s birth certificate procedures, enabling transgender people to change their birth certificates to the appropriate gender without having to undergo invasive and sometimes unnecessary surgical requirements.
“This is a critically important advance for Connecticut’s transgender citizens,” said Jennifer Levi, Director of the Transgender Rights Project for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD). “When transgender people cannot obtain identity documents that match their gender identity, they become vulnerable to discrimination, harassment, and violence.”
GLAD has published a toolkit to assist transgender people who wish to change the gender marker on their Connecticut birth certificate. The toolkit is available at www.glad.org/rights/toolkit/connecticut-birth-certificate-tool-kit. [pullquote]Last week, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signed into law a bill that updates the state’s birth certificate procedures, enabling transgender people to change their birth certificates to the appropriate gender without having to undergo invasive and sometimes unnecessary surgical requirements. …GLAD has published a toolkit to assist transgender people who wish to change the gender marker on their Connecticut birth certificate.[/pullquote]
The new law eliminates a Department of Health requirement that people show proof of surgery before changing the gender marker on their birth certificate. This burdensome condition denied recognition to numerous people including those who did not have medical need of or could not afford such a procedure.
The new process allows an appropriate range of healthcare professionals to provide letters in support of the request to correct a person’s birth certificate. The criteria for correction is “surgical, hormonal, or other treatment appropriate to the individual for the purpose of gender transition.”
H.B. No. 7006 passed the Senate by a vote of 32-3 and the House by a vote of 126-18.
GLAD worked on the legislation in a coalition with the ACLU of Connecticut, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, True Colors, Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition, Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund, and others.
Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders works in New England and nationally to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status, and sexual orientation.
[From a News Release]
