3 transgender plaintiffs in class-action suit
Jul 26, 2011 16:08:55 GMT -5
Post by PrisonerOfHope on Jul 26, 2011 16:08:55 GMT -5
Three transgender plaintiffs in class-action suit to get birth certificates changed
By Rex W. Huppke, Tribune reporter
6:06 p.m. CDT, July 24, 2011
A Cook County Circuit Court judge has ordered that the three lead plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the state can change the gender on their birth certificates even though they have not had genital surgeries.
Judge Michael Hyman stayed the lawsuit — which contests the state's policy of requiring transgender people to have "genital reformation surgery" before they can change the gender on their birth certificates — until September, when a legislative committee will consider a proposed rule that could do away with the genital surgery requirement.
"We're not happy about the stay," said John Knight, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Project at the ACLU of Illinois. "We think it's really just more delay, but the judge has allowed the state to have that time."
Topics
Happiness (state of mind)
Surgery
Trials
See more topics »
Knight said that even if the new regulations are approved, the ACLU will continue to ask for a stronger "enforceable agreement with the state" that will guarantee transgender Illinoisans cannot be denied a birth certificate gender change because they have had not had genital surgery.
The three lead plaintiffs — Lauren Grey, Victor Williams and Nicholas Guarino — will all have their birth certificates changed to reflect their gender identities.
The lawsuit claims that for years the state would change people's gender on their birth certificates even if they had not had any form of genital surgery, but that the policy seemed to change "in or about 2005."
Many medical experts who work with people in the transgender community say that gender is more a factor of what a person identifies with than the person's anatomy.
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-trans-lawsuit-20110724,0,6397324.story
By Rex W. Huppke, Tribune reporter
6:06 p.m. CDT, July 24, 2011
A Cook County Circuit Court judge has ordered that the three lead plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the state can change the gender on their birth certificates even though they have not had genital surgeries.
Judge Michael Hyman stayed the lawsuit — which contests the state's policy of requiring transgender people to have "genital reformation surgery" before they can change the gender on their birth certificates — until September, when a legislative committee will consider a proposed rule that could do away with the genital surgery requirement.
"We're not happy about the stay," said John Knight, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Project at the ACLU of Illinois. "We think it's really just more delay, but the judge has allowed the state to have that time."
Topics
Happiness (state of mind)
Surgery
Trials
See more topics »
Knight said that even if the new regulations are approved, the ACLU will continue to ask for a stronger "enforceable agreement with the state" that will guarantee transgender Illinoisans cannot be denied a birth certificate gender change because they have had not had genital surgery.
The three lead plaintiffs — Lauren Grey, Victor Williams and Nicholas Guarino — will all have their birth certificates changed to reflect their gender identities.
The lawsuit claims that for years the state would change people's gender on their birth certificates even if they had not had any form of genital surgery, but that the policy seemed to change "in or about 2005."
Many medical experts who work with people in the transgender community say that gender is more a factor of what a person identifies with than the person's anatomy.
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-trans-lawsuit-20110724,0,6397324.story
