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A rule that prevents transgender people from changing the gender designation on their birth certificates or driver’s licenses in Montana will be temporarily blocked following a state judge’s ruling.
District Judge Mike Menahan ruled Monday that the ban will be blocked while the case progresses through court.
Under state law, transgender people born in Montana are prohibited from changing the gender on their birth certificate, and transgender residents cannot change the gender on their driver’s license without an amended birth certificate. It cannot be changed either.
Two transgender women filed the lawsuit in April on behalf of themselves and others who were unable to obtain documentation that “accurately reflects their gender,” according to the complaint.
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Protesters gather on the steps of the Montana State Capitol in Helena, Montana, March 2021. (Tom Bridge/Independent Recording via AP, File)
The state had argued that gender is binary, male or female, and that transgender people are not a protected class whose constitutional right to privacy could be violated.
Menahan said that at this point in the lawsuit, it is not necessary to determine whether transgender Montanans qualify for a special class based on their transgender status, and that discrimination based on transgender status is not based on gender. He said he disagreed with the state’s argument that it was not discrimination. sex.
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Transgender rights activists march on the campus of the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana, in May 2023. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, File)
“If the challenged state action discriminates against transgender individuals on the basis of their transgender status, it necessarily discriminates on the basis of their sex as well,” he wrote.
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The ruling comes days after the Montana Supreme Court temporarily blocked a state law banning transgender surgeries on minors, saying the law would likely violate Montanans’ constitutional privacy rights. It was served later.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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