July 17, 2021
-Washington Examiner
Two transgender plaintiffs sued Montana on Friday over a state law requiring those seeking to change the sex identifier on their birth certificates to prove they had genital surgery.
Amelia Marquez, who was born male but identifies as female, and John Doe, who was born female and identifies as male, asked a state court to enjoin enforcement of the law, which they said violates their rights and invades their privacy under the Montana Constitution.
Senate Bill 280, approved by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte in April, provides that a birth certificate sex marker can be changed “only if the [state health department] receives a certified copy of an order from a court with appropriate jurisdiction indicating that the sex of the person born in Montana has been changed by surgical procedure.”
The law “was created to marginalize transgender people,” the complaint stated, adding that it denies them equal protection of the laws.
Marquez has undergone hormone treatments as part of a gender transition and wishes to alter the birth certificate but is unable to afford genital surgery and can’t take off work to recover from surgery, according to the lawsuit.
