Billings, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge Thursday blocked health officials from enforcing a state rule that would bar transgender people from changing the gender on their birth certificates.
Moses said there was no doubt that new rules recently adopted by the Montana Department of Health and Human Services violated his previous order. This is to reinstate the 2017 Department of Public Health and Human Services rule.
Legal controversy arises as conservative legislators in many states seek to restrict transgender rights, such as banning transgender girls from participating in sports in girls’ schools.
Under Montana law, changing the gender on your birth certificate required you to undergo a “surgical procedure.” Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration went further, blocking changes to birth certificates even after surgery.
Moses said the April ruling was “very clear” and the state’s subsequent actions were followed by a person convicted of assault twice who gave his name to avoid prosecution after a third offense. I compared it with when I tried to change it.
“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.
The ACLU in Montana, one 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. They were asking Moses to intervene. 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 the injunction reverted to the 2017 rule and put everything else on hold until the case was decided.
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.
