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Transgender Texas residents can no longer update the gender listed on their birth certificates, according to a policy change quietly announced on Friday.
A spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed to Texas Newsroom that Texans who have obtained a court order to update the gender on their birth certificate are currently unable to do so.
Errors or omissions on the part of the hospital can result in changes to your child’s birth certificate.
The policy change comes as conservative states across the country try to make it harder for transgender Americans to update their documents with a gender that matches their gender identity. Five other states already ban the change on birth certificates, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an advocacy group that tracks anti-LGBTQ policies.
KXAN first reported on the change on Saturday.
Texas health officials made the change without publicizing it, which took effect just over a week after the Department of Public Safety banned people from changing the gender listed on their driver’s licenses except to correct a clerical error.
The decision came after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton questioned the validity of those court orders.
State health department spokesman Chris Van Dusen raised the same question when explaining the department’s change in policy regarding birth certificates.
“Recent public reports have highlighted concerns regarding the validity of court orders to correct gender on state-issued documents. DSHS is seeking the assistance of the Attorney General’s Office to determine whether these concerns apply to correcting vital records,” Van Dusen told Texas Newsroom in a statement.
Paxton, a Republican, has been a vocal opponent of expanding rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people at both the federal and state levels.
Until Friday, the state health department’s website contained information about how to “amend” a child’s birth certificate with a “certified copy of a court order,” according to an archived version of the webpage. That information has been removed, and the site now only lists instructions for changing the listed gender because it “was proven to be incomplete or inaccurate.”
The Texas Transgender Education Network (TENT) posted about the change on social media last weekend.
“Our transgender identity is not defined by a piece of paper, nor can it be taken away by hateful policies,” the group wrote on Instagram.
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