To Change Gender on Alabama License, Surgery is Now Required
metroweekly.comsued to challenge the state’s Policy Order 63, arguing that the surgical requirement violates their constitutional rights by forcing them to undergo a costly, invasive, and — depending on their unique form of gender dysphoria — potentially unnecessary medical procedure just to have their identities recognized as valid by the state.
Currently, eight other states have similar requirements in place.Additionally, state officials only accept some forms of gender confirmation surgery as “proof” that a person has transitioned, meaning that even those who undergo some surgeries can still be denied the right to amend their gender marker.
A federal court sided with the plaintiffs, finding that the policy was a form of sex-based discrimination and infringed upon the transgender residents’ due process and speech rights.But on September 20, the 11th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s decision, arguing that the policy does not single out or disadvantage individuals based on sex, but rather applies equally to all people seeking to change the gender marker on their state-issued documents.“Policy Order 63 imposes the same objective conditions on everyone,” Circuit Judge Elizabeth Branch wrote in her opinion on behalf of the unanimous three-judge panel.
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