Ill. to Issue New Birth Certificates to Litigants (Advocate)
Three trangender Illinois residents will soon receive new birth certificates reflecting their correct gender, after an order issued last week by a Cook County Circuit Court judge in an ongoing lawsuit over gender markers.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois filed suit in May challenging the state’s refusal to correct the gender on birth certificates for people who have had gender-reassignment (or, at the ACLU puts it, gender-confirmation) surgery, but not the specific forms of genital surgery demanded by state agencies.
Rather than file a response to the lawsuit, state officials argued that under a new rule to be considered by a legislative committee this fall, no one would be required to have genital surgery. The state sought a stay in the case until then, and Judge Michael Heyman ordered last week that the three ACLU clients identified in the suit — Lauren Grey (pictured), Victor Williams, and Nicholas Guarino — be issued new birth certificates as a sign of the state’s good faith, and state officials agreed to the order. All have been waiting years for new identity documents, according to the ACLU.
[...]
Complete article at Advocate : http://bit.ly/ptlYpd
