New York set to allow people to change gender on birth certificate

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2006

NEW YORK (AFP) — New York authorities are considering proposals to let transgender individuals alter the sex on their birth certificate even if they have not undergone a sex change, in a move welcomed by rights activists. The proposals being mulled by health authorities would allow people born in the city to change the sex on their identification documents if they have spent at least two years living as that gender.

Cole Thaler, transgender rights attorney with law firm Lambda Legal, welcomed the proposed changes, which are expected to be adopted next month. "I definitely think its a step in the right direction," he said. The firm received hundreds of calls a year from transgender people experiencing problems with accurate identification or problems arising from having...