Montana bars birth certificate changes, even with surgery

MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana health officials say transgender people can’t change their birth certificates even if they undergo gender-confirmation surgery. The decision defies a court order that temporarily blocked the Republican-controlled state’s bid to restrict transgender rights. The state health department said late Monday in an emergency order that it would no longer record the category of gender on people’s birth certificates. It will be replaced with category for sex that can be changed only in rare circumstances. The oder says sex is “immutable” and that gender is a “social…construct” that can change over time.