EarthTimes.org – Author : American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois
Chicago – (Business Wire) Citing the need to have an accurate birth certificate for identification purposes, two women born in Illinois today asked a court to order the State to issue new birth certificates that reflect their appropriate and accurate gender following gender confirmation surgery (sometimes described as sex reassignment surgery.) For more than four decades, Illinois has permitted individuals who have gender confirmation surgery to change the gender “marker” on an original birth certificate; the Department of Vital Records, however, recently started interpreting the law to provide this option only if an individual has the surgery by a United States-licensed physician. This creates an unnecessary and unfair burden for the growing number of persons who select a surgeon from Europe, South America or Asia, according to the ACLU of Illinois. Both of the women in today’s lawsuit opted for their own reasons to have their gender confirmation surgery in Thailand.