Judge rejects trans plaintiffs' bid to change their birth certificates in TN

[Jilly_in_VA]

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit brought by a group of Tennessee-born transgender plaintiffs hoping to compel the state to let them change the sex designations on their birth certificates.

The plaintiffs had sought to overturn a 1977 law that generally prohibits such changes. They said it unconstitutionally discriminates against transgender people and the sex designation on their certificates is inaccurate because it does not reflect their gender identities.

The lawsuit also argued that the policy is harmful, saying that when transgender people show their birth certificates for identification, the mismatch between the documents and their gender identities exposes them to possible harassment and even violence.

U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson wrote in his decision to dismiss that while there are varying definitions of "sex," the term "has a very narrow and specific meaning" for the purpose of birth certificates: "external genitalia at the time of birth."

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/23/transgender-rights-in-tennessee-judge-rejects-birth-certificate-suit/70352751007/

Another idiot not understanding that gender and sex are two fundamentally different things.

[70sEraVet]

1. Also, failing to understand that people can be born with genitalia of BOTH sexes.

Intersex is a general term used for a variety of situations in which a person is born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit the boxes of “female” or “male.” Sometimes doctors do surgeries on intersex babies and children to make their bodies fit binary ideas of “male” or “female”. Doctors always assign intersex babies a legal sex (male or female, in most states), but, just like with non-intersex people, that doesn’t mean that’s the gender identity they’ll grow up to have. This brings up questions about whether or not it’s OK to do medical procedures on children’s bodies when it’s not needed for their health.

Being intersex is a naturally occurring variation in humans, and it isn’t a medical problem — therefore, medical interventions (like surgeries or hormone therapy) on children usually aren’t medically necessary. Being intersex is also more common than most people realize. It’s hard to know exactly how many people are intersex, but estimates suggest that about 1-2 in 100 people born in the U.S. are intersex.

https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/gender-identity/sex-gender-identity/whats-intersex

[Jilly_in_VA]

2. No kidding

Although it's actually more like 1-2:1000. You left off a zero there. I worked in a neonatal unit in a small city hospital for nearly a year in the early 90s, and during that year we had three babies born with ambiguous genitalia out of nearly 1200, so it's not nearly as uncommon as people think it is. This judge needs to go back to high school biology.