Montana judge blocks rule banning transgender people from changing their gender on documents

A rule that prohibits transgender people in Montana from changing their gender designation on birth certificates and driver’s licenses will be temporarily suspended following a state judge’s decision.

on monday District Judge Mike Menahan ruled that the ban will be suspended while the case works its way through the courts.

Under state law Transgender people born in Montana are blocked from changing the gender designation on their birth certificate. And transgender residents are prevented from changing the gender on their driver’s license without amending their birth certificate.

Two transgender women filed suit in April on behalf of themselves and others. who cannot receive documents “That accurately reflects their gender,” the complaint states.

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Protesters gather on the steps of the Montana State Capitol in Helena, Montana, in March 2021. (Thom Bridge/Free Record via AP, File)

The state argued that gender is binary. whether male or female And being transgender is not a protected class of persons that may violate constitutional privacy rights.

Menahan said at this point in the litigation it is not necessary to determine whether transgender Montanans constitute a special class based on their transgender status. and disagreed with the government’s argument that discrimination on the basis of transgender status is not discrimination on the basis of gender.

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Transgender rights activists hold signs while marching through the University of Montana campus in May 2023 in Missoula, Montana. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, File)

“If the challenged state action discriminates against transgender persons on the basis of their transgender status, They also need to discriminate on the basis of gender,” he wrote.

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The decision comes just days after the Montana Supreme Court temporarily suspended a state law banning gender reassignment surgery for minors. They said the law likely violates Montana’s constitutional right to privacy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.