: NYC backs off :
Unfortunately, this measure did not pass, but it's still better in New York than in Houston.
NYC eases one rule on gender records, but keeps another in place
(c) 2006. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
NEW YORK (AP) - City health officials on Tuesday backed off a plan that would have allowed transgender New Yorkers to switch the sex listed on their birth certificate without undergoing gender reassignment surgery.
Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said the issue needed further study, in part to guarantee it wouldn't conflict with federal identity document rules now being developed.
Like most other cities and states, New York has long allowed people who have undergone such a surgery to get a new birth certificate reflecting the change.
The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene had proposed in September that the policy be liberalized further to include people who had taken other steps short of surgery to irrevocably alter their gender-identity.
The new policy, for example, would have allowed birth record changes for someone who took hormone treatments to change their physiology.
While it delayed making that change, the Board of Health went ahead with a related policy revision that will allow people who have undergone reassignment surgery to have their new sex listed on birth documents for the first time.
Previously, the city had simply issued a new birth certificate that removed any reference to gender.
NYC eases one rule on gender records, but keeps another in place
(c) 2006. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
NEW YORK (AP) - City health officials on Tuesday backed off a plan that would have allowed transgender New Yorkers to switch the sex listed on their birth certificate without undergoing gender reassignment surgery.
Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said the issue needed further study, in part to guarantee it wouldn't conflict with federal identity document rules now being developed.
Like most other cities and states, New York has long allowed people who have undergone such a surgery to get a new birth certificate reflecting the change.
The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene had proposed in September that the policy be liberalized further to include people who had taken other steps short of surgery to irrevocably alter their gender-identity.
The new policy, for example, would have allowed birth record changes for someone who took hormone treatments to change their physiology.
While it delayed making that change, the Board of Health went ahead with a related policy revision that will allow people who have undergone reassignment surgery to have their new sex listed on birth documents for the first time.
Previously, the city had simply issued a new birth certificate that removed any reference to gender.
