#Roommates, as the country continues to evolve in terms of the rights of those in the transgender community—another state has recently enacted the law that gives transgender people rights to update their birth certificates. According to recent reports, Ohio is now the latest state to officially allow its transgender residents the ability to change the gender on their birth certificate.
@NBCNews reports, Ohio is now the 49th state to allow transgender people to formally change the gender markers on their birth certificate—this means that now, Tennessee is the only state in the country that has not adopted the legislation. Back in December, a federal court ruled that Ohio’s previous ban on gender changes on birth certificates was unconstitutional, so the Ohio Department of Health decided not to appeal the ruling and allow members of the transgender community to change their birth certificate gender if they choose to.
The December court ruling, which was by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, was due to a lawsuit by four transgender Ohio residents—who stated that they were the victims of professional humiliation, verbal harassment and threats to their safety as a result of not having a birth certificate that aligned with their gender identity.
Additionally, although mostly every state permits gender birth certificate changes—the process of actually doing it can vary. There are approximately 14 states that require proof of gender-reassignment surgery in order to make the birth certificate change.
As of now, Tennessee has not announced any plans to follow suit with the rest of the 49 states to also allow the transgender birth certificate changes to be made.
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