|
A 2-1 panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that
the U.S. Constitution did not require the Republican-led state
to change the biological sex listed on the birth certificates of
four transgender women born in Tennessee.
The state is among only a handful nationally that categorically
bars individuals from amending the sex on their birth
certificates.
The transgender women argued Tennessee's policy violated their
due process rights and infringed on equal protection rights
guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment by
discriminating on the basis of their sex and transgender status.
But Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton, writing for the
majority, concluded that a lower-court judge rightly rejected
the lawsuit, saying there was no fundamental right to a birth
certificate recording gender identity instead of biological sex.
"The States have considerable discretion in defining the terms
used in their own laws and in deciding what records to keep," he
wrote. "Tennessee did not exceed that discretion in
distinguishing biological sex from gender identity in its birth
certificate records."
Tennessee's Republican attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti,
welcomed the ruling, saying "any change in Tennessee's policy
can only come from the people of Tennessee."
Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the LGBTQ
rights group Lambda Legal, said they were disappointed and
considering their options. "Nobody is harmed by our plaintiffs
having birth certificates reflecting who they are," he said.
Gonzalez-Pagan said the ruling conflicted with a decision last
month by the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
that revived a lawsuit challenging an Oklahoma policy
prohibiting transgender people from changing their birth
certificates to match their gender identity.
Both judges in the 6th Circuit ruling's majority were appointed
by Republican presidents while the dissenting judge, Helene
White, was initially nominated by Democratic former President
Bill Clinton before ultimately being appointed by his Republican
successor, George W. Bush.
White said the policy was based on generalizations of what it
meant to be male and female and infringed the plaintiffs rights
because it "forcibly outs them in the myriad circumstances when
birth certificates are necessary to participate fully in
contemporary society."
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; editing by Miral Fahmy)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
