On June 30, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said requiring people to show proof of surgery to get the sex designation changed on their birth certificate is unconstitutional.
The current law requires an affidavit from a physician stating that a sex-reassignment surgery took place before a person can have their sex changed on their birth certificate. In a written statement, the Attorney General said that violates individuals’ equal protection and due process rights.
“The law violates Michiganders’ most basic and fundamental protections under the Constitution,” Nessel said. “As written, it is a tool of intolerance that treats one group of people different from the rest of us by requiring thousands of residents to undergo expensive and invasive medical procedures in order to amend their birth certificates to reflect their true identity.”
Ten other states and Washington D.C. allow people to change their birth certificates with proof of lesser surgical or hormonal procedures, or with no proof at all.