Judge: Idaho must allow gender changes on birth certificates

A federal judge says Idaho can’t keep automatically rejecting applications from transgender people seeking to change the gender listed on their birth certificates.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale says rules by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare violate the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

She said Monday that the state must begin considering applications to change the sex listed on birth certificates under new, constitutionally sound rules by April 6. The ruling also says reissued birth certificates can’t include a record of the gender having been changed.

Most states already allow such changes. But Idaho was one of four – including Kansas, Ohio and Tennessee – that prohibits transgender people from changing their birth certificate to reflect their gender identity.