Transgender People Sue IL Over Birth Certificates 

Three transgender people filed a class action lawsuit against the state of Illinois on Tuesday over the state’s refusal to change the gender on their birth certificates.

Lauren Grey, Victor Williams, and Nicholas Guarino, all whom were born in Illinois, have undergone medical surgery to conform their bodies to the genders with which they identify. And according to their lawsuit, the state’s Vital Records Act (VRA) allows the gender on a birth certificate to be changed if a licensed medical doctor deems it necessary.

However, around 2005 the state registrar adopted a practice of only changing the gender on birth certificates if the person underwent genital surgery, which the lawsuit claims violates the language of the VRA.

Fox News reports that Grey and Williams have been able to change the gender on most of their government-issued identification cards, while Guarino has been unable to change it on anything because the state of Texas, where he now lives, requires that the gender on his driver’s license and other IDs to match that on his birth certificate.

The suit seeks a permanent injunction ordering the state to grant new birth certificates to the plaintiffs and other similarly affected people in the state.

Read the full story here.