West Virginia to allow birth certificate gender marker changes without court order
October 28, 2022 | West Virginia
West Virginia has agreed to amend its policies to allow trans-identified individuals to more easily change the gender marker on their birth certificates as part of a legal settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU announced Wednesday that ongoing litigation in West Virginia has ended. The ACLU was one of several advocacy organizations representing trans-identified plaintiffs seeking to amend West Virginia state law preventing them from changing their gender marker to match their gender identity without a court order.
The ACLU was joined by ACLU’s West Virginia chapter and the Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic in the lawsuit.
As explained in the settlement agreement, West Virginia’s Department of Health and Human Resources’ Vital Registration Office required trans-identified individuals seeking gender marker changes to “submit a court order directing the gender marker change.” Additionally, the state amended birth certificates “utilizing a strike-through method” that left “amended information on the face of the amended birth certificate and legible.” … (Excerpt from The Christian Post)
