“Birth certificates are not mere records of historical facts or observations; they are critical and foundational identity documents.”
oday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit heard oral argument in Lambda Legal’s appeal of a district court ruling upholding Tennessee’s discriminatory birth certificate policy. Tennessee’s policy does not allow transgender people born in Tennessee to correct the gender marker on their birth certificates, leaving them grappling with inconsistent government identity documents and forcibly disclosing their transgender status. Tennessee is one of only a handful of states left in the country that still categorically prohibit transgender people from correcting their birth certificates to accurately reflect their identity.
Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Lambda Legal Counsel and Health Care Strategist, issued the following statement:
“After more than three years of waiting, leaving transgender people born in Tennessee in limbo, the district court dismissed our plaintiffs’ complaint arguing, incredibly, that birth certificates are not identity documents. But birth certificates are not mere records of historical facts or observations; they are critical and foundational identity documents essential to securing passports, government identity cards such as drivers’ licenses, and even accessing governmental benefits. We believe the court should have grappled with the merits of plaintiffs’ claims and asked the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to so order. Tennessee’s archaic policy not only discriminates against transgender people born in the state, it also risks their safety and wellbeing by involuntarily disclosing their transgender status, exposing them to discrimination, harassment, and even violence.”
Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit in 2019 challenging Tennessee’s anti-trans policy on behalf of four transgender women born in Tennessee – Kayla Gore, Jaime Combs, and two plaintiffs identified by their initials, L.G. and K.N. At that moment, Tennessee was one of just three remaining states, including Kansas and Ohio, with such a policy. Federal courts in numerous states and territories, including Idaho, Ohio, and Puerto Rico, have issued judgments that such policies are unconstitutional, but states like Montana, Kansas, and Oklahoma adopted similar discriminatory policies. Last June, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee granted the State of Tennessee’s motion to dismiss the complaint, which had been pending for more than three years.
In the lawsuit, Gore v. Lee, Lambda Legal argued that denying transgender people born in Tennessee the ability to obtain accurate birth certificates violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit also argued that forcing transgender people through their birth certificates to identify with a sex that is not who they are violates their free speech rights under the First Amendment.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville. Apart from this case, Lambda Legal has successfully challenged categorical bans on corrections to birth certificates in Idaho, Ohio, and Puerto Rico, as well as restrictive policies in New York and North Carolina. In Kansas, a court entered a consent judgment in 2019 which remained in place until this year. In each of those jurisdictions, Lambda Legal secured victories that prompted policy changes allowing transgender people to obtain birth certificates accurately reflecting their identities.
According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, almost one-third of transgender people who showed an identity document with a name or gender marker that conflicted with their perceived gender were harassed, denied benefits or services, discriminated against or assaulted. Transgender people also are disproportionately targeted for hate crimes.
Handling the case on behalf of Lambda Legal are Counsel and Health Care Strategist Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Senior Counsel Tara Borelli, and Senior Attorney and Director of the Non-Binary and Transgender Rights Project Sasha Buchert. They are joined by pro-bono co-counsel Gavin Villareal, Maddy Dwertmann, Brandt Roessler, and Joshua Lee of Baker Botts LLP and John Winemiller and River Lord of Merchant & Gould.
Read more about the case here: https://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/cases/tn_gore-v-lee