A federal appeals court panel has ruled that Tennessee does not unconstitutionally discriminate against transgender people by not allowing them to change the sex designation on their birth certificates
“There is no fundamental right to a birth certificate recording gender identity instead of biological sex,” 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote for the majority in the decision upholding a 2023 district court ruling. The plaintiffs could not show that Tennessee’s policy was created out of animus against transgender people as it has been in place for more than half a century and “long predates medical diagnoses of gender dysphoria,” Sutton wrote.
First, trans rights are human rights.
Second, this is yet another demonstration of how the far right abuses the court system to legislate what they cannot pass through normal bicameral legislatures.
This will undoubtedly be appealed and pushed higher up the court system with the end goal of it reaching the Supreme Court. This is how red states (such as Tennessee) exert their will over blue states such as New York and California.
The courts reasoning is faulty…trans people have existed since before this country has.
An interesting thought on this is why do we even use that document in the first place. Lots of info on it is no longer valid outside of your location of birth. Your hair can change color if it even is out by then, height, weight, etc etc. Sex and gender seem to be the same.
I think it’s because its the first official document you receive once you’re born and consequently it is required to get other forms of official ID later in life. Many institutions also want multiple forms of official ID to prove who you are, so it is still useful after other forms of official ID are obtained (ie a passport or state license). It’s just convenient to have, really.
Still, to your point most babies kinda look the same and the descriptors we use at birth are not necessarily accurate later in life. We can update other forms of government ID, why not a birth certificate?
Really, this Tennessee Judge’s logic doesn’t hold up here. Just because a right is not explicitly mentioned does not mean we do not have it. I would argue our right to modify our own birth certificate (through official channels) is an implicit right.
In fact, I would also go so far as to say that this is government overreach; the Constitution is really more about restricting what the government can do to its people, and less about what it’s citizens cannot do. But republicans only believe that when it suits their own agenda.
