Yesterday all three of the the republican members of the Colorado State Senate Veterans and Military Affairs Committee voted to defeat House Bill 1265, the Birth Certificate Modernization Act, a bill which would have brought the state into accord with federal policy for transgender people born in Colorado who wished to update their birth certificates.
It was our hope that at least one Republican senator on the committee would side with the six Republicans in the Colorado House of Representatives who voted in favor of House Bill 1265 because it upholds the Republican ideals of freedom, privacy, and limited government.
This much-needed legislation would simply have brought Colorado law in line with existing policies at the federal level, and in doing so would have protected the privacy of transgender Coloradans and protected them from discrimination. Every transgender Coloradan is someone’s son or daughter and deserves to be treated with respect. We will continue to work in the legislature to reduce the many barriers transgender Coloradans face every day.
--Dave Montez, One Colorado
The final vote was 3-2.
The bill would have allowed people to change the gender on their birth certificate with a letter from a medical or mental health professional stating that they are undergoing surgical, hormonal or other treatment.
It meant that someone could have had the physical body parts of one gender but a birth certificate with the opposite gender. Proponents said the bill would have put Colorado law in line with federal requirements for changing passports and with modern medical understanding that not all transgender people want or can have gender reassignment surgery.
--Jennifer Brown, Denver Post
As it stands now, a person must get a court order certifying he or she has gone through gender-reassignment surgery, which means standing before a judge in a courtroom "full of strangers.
Then the person's birth certificate carries a notation saying it's been amended, which could force the person to explain the change each time his or her birth certificate is presented.
--Rep. Dominick Moreno (D-Commerce City, sponsor of the bill
When it passed the house, it did so over the objections of some republicans who believed that the law, if passed, would be taken advantage of for fraudulent purposes,
The Denver Post's Editorial Board felt that it was necessary to should have been passed, even though they believed it to be flawed.
The bill called for the sealing of former birth certificates and all documents relating to the change of gender.
Sealing records that are a part of a person's past — even if it never aligned with who they thought they were — amounts to trying to rewrite the past. The government makes records and changes records but shouldn't hide records.
--Post editorial
Meanwhile, in Texas, the
Bathroom Surveillance Bill (HB 2801) was withdrawn in the House State Affairs Committee.
The bill stated,
A school district shall adopt a policy providing that only persons of the same biological sex may be present at the same time in any bathroom, locker room, or shower facility in a building owned by the district.
The bill also specified that non-transgender students could claim up to $2000 in damages for reporting that a transgender student used a toilet in "the wrong bathroom."
Rep. Byron Cook, chair of the committee decreed that the language was too harsh and removed it from the committee's agenda.
It needed a whole lot of work.
These sorts of bills need to be extremely well thought-out.
--Cook
Sponsor Rep. Gilbert Pena (R-Pasadena) says the legislation will be toned down and resubmitted. It is the only one of four bathroom bills filed this session to receive a hearing.
Gay-rights advocacy group Equality Texas, which opposes the measures, said the weeklong postponement was a victory because only 47 days are left in the legislative session.
The bill would make it more difficult for transgender students to get an education. I don’t know how that can possibly be toned down.
--Daniel Williams, Equality Texas
In Maryland the http://www.diamondbackonline.com/news/article_f7d80034-e2ff-11e4-9c0e-0b5476648ba1.html">
state legislature has passed a bill to make it easier for state transgender residents to receive birth certificates that reflect their preferred gender and name.
This measure would allow transgender residents to receive new birth certificates with the name and gender they currently possess without any indication of a change on the document.
This was a vote for equality — to have an environment free of discrimination, no matter who you are.
--Sen. Susan Lee (D-Montgomery)
The secretary of health and mental hygiene must render new birth certificates for people if the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene receives information from a licensed health care practitioner that proves the individual experienced a sex change or was diagnosed with an intersex condition, or if there is a court order to prove it.
If an individual had a birth certificate amended for a sex change prior to Oct. 1, 2015, this bill would allow a new birth certificate to be issued as well.
It’s really about letting people get on with their lives without having their privacy violated and without subjecting them to possible discrimination.
--Del. David Moon (D-Montgomery
In Nevada the
Editorial Board of the Reno Gazette-Journal called for the rejection of AB375.
Bullying is so pervasive that about half will attempt suicide if their classmates know they are transgender, according to a national survey by the University of California, Los Angeles and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in 2014.
Dooling's bill fortifies the bullying of transgender children by making it the law of Nevada that they should be treated differently. The health and safety of all Nevada students should be paramount; AB375 must be rejected.