Billings, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge on Thursday defied the order just hours after health officials blocked enforcement of a state rule banning transgender people from changing the gender on their birth certificates. said.
Moses said there was no doubt that state officials violated his previous order by creating new rules. It reinstated the Ministry of Health and Welfare rule, which allowed people to update the gender on their birth certificates by submitting an affidavit to the ministry.
However, the state said it would ignore the decision.
“The Justice Department has thoroughly evaluated the judge’s ambiguous April 2022 decision and has produced a final rule to align with the decision. The 2022 final rule issued by the Department of Health on September 9 remains in effect and we are carefully considering our next steps,” said the Department of Public Health and Human Services. director Charlie Bretton said.
ACLU attorney Marita Picasso expressed disappointment with the agency’s stance and said officials should begin processing birth certificate change requests immediately.
“It’s shocking that after this morning’s hearing, the authorities claimed there was a lack of clarity in the court’s ruling,” Picasso said. “It is very clear that Judge Moses explicitly called for a return to 2017 policy, and anything else is a continuation of a gross violation of the court’s order.”
Montana law stipulated that one must undergo a “surgical procedure” before changing the gender on the birth certificate, but it did not specify what procedure was required, so Moses decided that this was unconstitutional.
The administration of Gov. Greg Gianforte has created new rules that completely block changes to birth certificates unless there is a clerical error.
Sean Rieger, director of equality and economic justice at the Montana Human Rights Network and member of the transgender community, said, “We knew from the beginning that the Gianforte administration would go against the will of the Montana people and the court’s orders.
After learning that the state was planning to defy the court’s order, Rieger said the Montana Human Rights Network “will continue its vengeful attacks on the trans community while the Gianforte administration blatantly ignores the court’s ruling.” I’m not going to sit on the sidelines,” he said.
“The judge has made it very clear that the department must go back to the 2017 rules,” Rieger said. .”
Moses said the April ruling was “very clear” and the state’s subsequent actions were designed to allow a person convicted of assault twice to avoid a harsher sentence after being charged a third time. This was compared with the case of trying to change the name to .
“Isn’t that exactly what happened here?” Moses asked. “I’m a little upset that the department thinks they can do whatever they want.”
Only Tennessee, Oklahoma, and West Virginia have outright bans on changing birth certificates, as does Montana, trans rights advocates say. The Idaho and Ohio bans were lifted in 2020.
Republican lawmakers who voted for the 2021 law suggested Moses had prejudices in favor of the plaintiffs in the case. Moses was appointed to the court by former Democratic Governor Steve Bullock .
Polson Senator Greg Hartz said in a statement, “Like clockwork, Judge Moses issued another predetermined order in favor of liberal plaintiffs without getting too thoroughly involved in the legal matter at hand. I put it out.
The Montana ACLU issued a statement to Moses a month after Moses issued a temporary injunction in the case after the state health department enacted a new temporary rule effectively banning alterations to birth certificates. to clarify his orders. That rule was made permanent last week.
The state argued that the injunction did not prevent the Department of Health from making the rule, but Moses said, based on case law, the injunction reinstated the 2017 rule and made other changes until the case was decided. said it was on hold.
State officials denied that the new rule banning changes to birth certificates was adopted in bad faith. Montana Assistant Attorney Kathleen Smithgall said the state came up with new rules to fill regulatory gaps after the 2021 law was blocked.
Kyler Nellison, spokesperson for Attorney General Austin Knudsen, said, “Judge Moses mischaracterized the language of his own order, the motives of the parties, and the state of the law.
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