TEXAS — Transgender people in Texas are no longer allowed to change the gender on their birth certificates.
The Texas Department of State Health Services implemented the new policy last Friday. Previously, Texans could change the gender listed on their birth certificate via court order.
Currently, a child’s birth certificate can only be changed if the hospital made an error.
DSHS released the following statement Tuesday:
“Recent public reports have highlighted concerns about the validity of court orders to correct gender for purposes of state-issued documents. DSHS is seeking the assistance of the Attorney General’s Office to determine whether these concerns apply to correcting vital records. DSHS will no longer change an applicant’s gender on a birth certificate based on these court orders.”
This comes just weeks after transgender Texans were told they would no longer be able to change the gender on their driver’s licenses to match their gender identity.
Spectrum News 1 partner The Texas Tribune noted that previously, people were able to change their gender on their driver’s license if there was a clerical error or if they presented an amended birth certificate or an original, certified court order.
According to a December 2022 report by The Associated Press, the office of Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton requested data on how many people have changed the gender information on their driver’s licenses.
The Washington Post reported that public records obtained by the paper did not state why Paxton’s office made the request to the Texas Department of Public Safety. In June 2022, the head of the driver’s license division instructed his colleagues to compile “the total number of male-to-female and female-to-male changes during the past 24 months.”
A DPS spokesperson told The Post that the data ultimately wasn’t turned over because it couldn’t be compiled accurately.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott joined other Republican governors in signing a bill banning transgender youth from participating in public school sports teams that do not match the sex they were assigned at birth.
