Yesterday with the signing by the governor Connecticut joined the ranks of seven other states, Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, Maryland, California, Washington, and Oregon and Washington D.C. to be able to change our birth certificate without surgery. On October 1st Public Act 15-132 will go into effect, the law will allow transgender people to change the gender designation on their birth certificates with a notarized statement from their physician or psychologist attesting to the fact that they have transitioned. making it the same way that you can change your gender on Social Security, passports, and diver license.
The new law also allows those born in another state to change their birth certificate with a Probate Court order if their birth state permits it to be changed.
The new law is PA 15-132 An Act Concerning Birth Certificate; the bill passed the Public Health Committee, the House, and the Senate with bipartisan support. The vote was of 126-18 in the House and 32-3 in the Senate.
Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition was a member of the coalition that worked to pass this legislation. The other members of the coalition were the American Civil Liberties Union CT (ACLU CT), Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF), Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), Hartford Gay & Lesbian Health Collective, National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), Planned Parenthood Southern New England, Quinnipiac University School of Law Civil Justice Clinic, True Colors, and the UConn Rainbow Center. The ACLU CT graciously provided their lobbyist Betty Gallo of Gallo & Robinson, LLC.
This legislation is CTAC's latest victory in the string legislative actions that began with the passage of the Hate Crime bill in 2004, the passage of the gender identity and expression non-discrimination legislation in 2011, and now the birth certificate bill in 2015.
