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The article was revised after talking to Masen Davis of the Transgender Law Center (TLC) to more accurately reflect what the signing of this bill accomplishes.
California’s AB 433 — the Vital Records Modernization Act — is the bill that actually changes things a lot for transsexual people who were born in California, or live in California and wish to officially change their legal sex in California.
Currently, the applicable section for legally changing trans people’s birth certificates in California is currently found in California Health And Safety Code Sections 103425-103445, and it hasn’t been updated since the 1970′s — when Gov. Brown, in his first terms as Governor, signed that code change into law.
A California Court Of Appeal recently ruled that trans people born in California could change their California birth certificates without being California state residents. One of the changes that AB 433 accomplishes is codify that ruling into law.
But probably more importantly, trans people can now change their California birth certificates without genital reconstruction surgery of any sort. From the Equality California Fact sheet for AB 433 (emphasis added):
The Vital Statistics Modernization Act would alleviate the confusion, anxiety and even danger that transgender people face when they have identity documents that do not reflect who they are. AB 433 would streamline current law and clarify that eligible petitioners living or born in California can submit a gender change petition in any jurisdiction in the State of California. Neither of these are changes in the law; it is simply a matter of making the process accessible to those who need it. AB 433 would also allow people who were born or live in California to use a simplified process that requires medical certification from an attending physician that the individual has undergone treatment as determined by their physician to correct identification documents to reflect their gender. This change conforms California’s standards to the standards set by the federal Government.
In other words, the changes recently made to how trans people can obtaining passports is the same standard now for changing one’s sex in California.
This change brings California closer than any other state to a change in the Model Law that the National Center For Transgender Equality (NCTE) recently proposed.
The text of AB 433 is here.
Personally, I was born in California. I qualified under the under the current rules to change my sex in California, but I’m likely going to wait until after January 1st to file for that legal change. This will be to verify the new California law works as advertized.
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Related:
* Breaking From TLC: California’s Governor Brown Signs Two Historic Transgender Rights Bills Into Law
6 Comments
Darlene and I are happy for you.
I will most likely get flammed for asking this or expressing my view, but I will anyway. Can you explain to me, why it is important to change the birth certificate? I’m not entirely familiar with the reasonings, or the issue of birth records. My own view is divided, because I am unfamiliar with the need for this, and because I see it as erasing historical fact. Why is it ok to go back and change the record to reflect the current situation? If one is born into te wrong body, they are still born as that sex (I do understand the difference between sex and gender, I think). How is changing that fact on a birth record beneficial? Does one then go back and change all historical records reflecting the current status, such as school records, and other things? I want people to be happy, and comfortable, but doesn’t it partially wipe away the historical record of the challenges and accomplishments of the comunitty? Like I said, I’m not familiar with this issue and am only raising the issues I do not understand. Not in judgement, but in an effort to gain knowledge.
Rob, think marriage. Who can a trans person marry heterosexually?
And too, there are a lot of state and federal identification regulations that depend on the gender marker on the birth certificate for determination of sex. Often one can’t change one’s gender marker on one’s identification until one changes one’s birth certificate.
Probably most importantly, it allows trans people to validate their gender identities. The value of that can’t be underestimated.
This not a flame,
It seems you assume that a person born with a penis or something a Doctor construes to be a penis is male. That would be an incorrect assumption. Some of us are born with a condition known as inter-sex and have outwardly appearing male genitalia but are female brained and are XX chromosome and grow up to be women. It is a very simple matter to legally change your name but when I go to apply for a drivers license,to them because I have to show my birth certificate, I am a woman named Michelle, but my documents say I’m a man named Michael. It’s not just a bureaucratic nightmare, it’s also embarrassing. And most transsexuals feel just as strongly that they are assigned a gender at birth that they do not identify as in adulthood. As such it is not changing history or rewriting history. If anything it is correcting history. Even if it was an act of changing history, isn’t it my (our) history to change? Don’t I (we) have a say in what is and is not an accurate account of my life. But you (and many others) seem to view the birth certificate as some kind of incontrovertible historical document like the constitution of something. I beg to differ with this opinion. To me it’s just a certificate of birth. Paperwork filed at the time of my birth with a clerical error because of an assumption that was made back when people did not know any better and I was not able to speak for myself.Now that I can speak, I say; first and foremost,.. it’s MY birth certificate and I think I should have every right to demand that it accurately reflect my life and what it stands for. What business is it of yours what I do with my birth record ? It does not affect you in the least.
Second, I maintain that I have the right to self determination and the right to self identify as I see fit. No one can tell me who I am. People may have their opinions about me, But these opinions are generally uninformed, arrogant and ignorant. They say more about the person espousing them than they ever will about me. And these opinions never ever will define me better than I can define myself.
Lastly, imagine if you will that your birth certificate had you as female, or your name was misspelled. And imagine that this led to a paper trail that followed you through grade school, HS, college. job applications etc. You mean to tell me that you would not want to correct this. Would you just accept this and let that inaccurate information permeate your entire life?
This new change in the law is another great step forward for the thousands of sexual minorities who are finally starting to realize the democratic freedoms we were supposed to have been born with.
My lack of knowledge first, or even second hand is the reason I asked the questions I did. The only “business of mine” that the issue involves is it is another law in California where I live and I wish to understand the importance of the law to those it affect in a personal manner. I understand the issues around inter-sexed individuals and it makes complete sense, the other issues are confusing to me, but if the questions are not asked, there remains one more individual (or many more who might have the same question but fear asking it) who is ignorant of the issues involved. I will never fully understand the issue as it is not “my” issue, but I would like to better understand it. Just because I ask the question does not mean I am not supportive of those who deal with this in their own lives. I do. Just as I have heterosexual friends who support me, who will never really “get” it, I simply wanted to understand what the importance is. As for the historical record, I wasn’t meaning to be offensive, I was thinkng in an analytical manner as to the documentation of the history of the struggle, but that is far less important than people finding and having a way to live happily as they see themselves and self-identify, and as long as people share their stories, the history remains.
What is lost in the discussion and publicity is how beneficial this law is for transsexual California residents who were not born in California (and a majority of California residents were not born there).
Formerly they had benefits but it was a stretch and could have easily been lost without changes to enacted laws, now they are secure.