A Montana judge blocks laws that prevent transgender people from changing their gender in writing
A law barring transgender people in Montana from changing the gender name on their birth certificates and driver's licenses will be temporarily suspended following a federal judge's decision.
District Judge Mike Menahan on Monday ruled that the ban will be stayed while the case proceeds through the courts.
Under state law, transgender people born in Montana are barred from changing the gender name on their birth certificate, and transgender citizens are barred from changing the gender on their driver's licenses without an amended birth certificate.
Two transgender women filed a lawsuit in April on behalf of themselves and others who were unable to obtain documents that “accurately reflect their gender,” the complaint said.
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Protesters gather on the steps of the Montana State Capitol in Helena, Montana, in March 2021. (Thom Bridge/The Independent Record via AP, File)
The state has argued that gender is non-binary, either male or female, and that transgender people are not a protected category of people whose constitutional rights to privacy can be violated.
Menahan said it was not necessary at this time in court to decide whether transgender Montanans form a special class based on their transgender status, and he disagreed with the state's argument that discrimination based on transgender is not discrimination on the basis of sex. sex.
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Transgender rights activists hold signs as they march on the University of Montana campus in May 2023 in Missoula, Montana. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, File)
“If the challenged state actions discriminate against transgender people because of their transgender status, they are also sexist,” he wrote.
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The decision comes after Montana's highest court temporarily blocked a state law banning surgery on transgender children, saying the law may violate Montana's constitutional right to privacy.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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