A federal court has ruled Arizona cannot refuse to amend the sex on someone’s birth certificate just because the person seeking the change has not undergone gender-affirming surgery.
The Arizona Department of Health Services had argued in court that allowing such changes would undermine vital records of births, including sex of the newborn.
U.S. District Judge James Soto said the state would still have original records, and that the department already changes birth certificates for individuals who have undergone transition-related surgeries
Soto said the rules would force individuals to involuntarily disclose they are transgender and that doing so would violate their right to privacy.
It is not clear if the ruling will have an effect on a parallel legal challenge in federal court against a state law that labels school sports for males, females or coed.
