I personally think it's downright SILLY to change your BIRTH certificate's sex marker, that's "changing history", what SHOULD happen is put something on it like "Born sex: Male. Adult sex: Female" or whatnot.

I'm transsexual myself, I'm in the process of changing all of my paperwork, but I really do think it's silly to change historical documents. Amend them while keeping the information, wonderful. Change them entirely, I don't see a reason to. less

The reason to change it is to prevent discrimination. Where I come from, birth certificates are used all the time - e.g. enrolling in school/university, applying for/starting a job, applying for scholarships, dorms, etc. Many aspects in your life require you to present your birth certificate. Now, if you've already transitioned, and may be living fully in the "new" gender, there is no reason for people in these instances to have to know that you are actually transgender, or that you were assigned a different sex at birth. Keep record of the change somewhere, sure, but don't make that record known to practically all my "superiors" in life. So, yes, I would agree with you that it's fine to keep a record of the change, but either not on the birth certificate, or if it is on the birth certificate, make that document not required for any purposes in life such as the ones I mentioned. Any other document should suffice as replacement (e.g. proof of citizenship, driver's licence, ID card, etc.). less

I think the most damaging aspect of this in recent years is the conflation of "sex" with "gender."



The trans community may disagree, but I continue to use the definition that was handed to me via psychology: sex speaks to biology, and gender speaks to roles and identity. "Sex" is male, female, intersex, or other (most of these aren't viable, though); "gender" is masculine, feminine, androgynous, and so forth.



On to the topic at hand: transGENDER people--those whom identify as another gender--should not be able to modify their birth certificate to reflect their wishes. TansSEX people--those identifying with, and having genitalia of, another sex--should absolutely be permitted this.



I know from a friend of a friend that the UK permits this very thing. The woman whom I met is exceptionally bright and gave one of the most interesting highly technical presentations I have ever seen. Apparently, the man that she was born was not this way at all, instead plagued with feelings of being in the wrong body. So, for her, created vagina and all, I absolutely think she is in the right to go back and retroactively alter her birth certificate. Pre-op, I wouldn't think so. less