Advocate.com
New York City wants to make it easier for transgender New Yorkers to switch the sex listed on their birth certificate, an important issue for transgender people in an era when official identity documents have become more essential in everyday life.
Under present city rules, only people who can show proof of a surgery qualify for getting a revised birth certificate. Even then, the only change made is the elimination of any reference to gender on the document.
The new plan, unveiled late last month, would let birth records reflect the new gender for the first time. It would also allow changes for people who haven’t had genital surgery but could show substantial proof that they have undertaken other steps to irrevocably alter their gender identity, like undergoing hormone therapy.
The policy change is one that advocates for New York’s sizable transgender population have requested for years but which has taken on greater significance in a post?September 11 world.