Montana judge block anti-transgender birth certificate rule

 A Montana judge has blocked an anti-transgender birth certificate rule, which has been challenged by state Chides State Attorneys

During a court hearing on a state health department policy that prohibits transgender people from changing their birth certificates, Montana District Judge Michael Moses gestures. The hearing took place on Thursday. 

The Montana Department of Health and Human Services' recently adopted new rule, according to the judge, is in clear violation of his earlier order.

AP — BILLINGS, Mont. On Thursday, a judge in Montana prevented health officials from enforcing a state law that would have allowed transgender people to change the gender listed on their birth certificates.

During a hearing in Billings, District Court Judge Michael Moses reprimanded state attorneys for disobeying his April order that temporarily blocked a Montana law that would have made it more difficult to change birth certificates.

Moses asserted that there was no doubt the recently adopted new rule by the Montana Department of Health and Human Services was against his earlier directive. A 2017 Department of Public Health and Human Services rule that facilitated changing one's birth certificate has been reinstated by the court.

The legal dispute comes at a time when conservative lawmakers have sought to limit transgender rights in many states, including by prohibiting transgender girls from participating in girls' school sports.

According to Montana law, changing the sex listed on one's birth certificate required a "surgical procedure." Then, even after surgery, Gov. Greg Gianforte's administration went a step further and prohibited changes to birth certificates.

Moses argued that his April decision had been "clear as a bell," and he likened the state's actions since then to the actions of someone who has been convicted of assault twice who tries to change their name after a third offense to avoid prosecution.

Isn't that what happened here, exactly? Moses enquired. I find it a little offensive that the department feels free to act however they please.

Advocates for transgender rights claim that only Tennessee, Oklahoma, and West Virginia have broad restrictions against birth certificate changes similar to what Montana has pursued. Ohio and Idaho bans were overturned in 2020.

After the state health department passed a new temporary rule effectively outlawing birth certificate changes a month after Moses issued his temporary injunction in the case, the ACLU of Montana asked Moses to get involved. Last week, that rule became a permanent one.

Moses said the injunction returned to the 2017 rules and put everything else on hold while the case is decided. The state argued that the injunction did not stop the health department from making rules.

State officials refuted claims that the new regulation barring birth certificate changes was passed in bad faith. According to Kathleen Smithgall, assistant solicitor for Montana, the state created the new regulation to close a gap left by the 2021 law's obstruction.