A class action status has now been granted to a lawsuit alleging that Arizona’s laws concerning the alteration of birth certificates discriminate against transgender individuals, especially minors.
The lawsuit was originally filed against Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) on behalf of three Arizona families, and the court’s decision means its eventual ruling will now “apply to all transgender individuals born in Arizona” who wish to change their birth certificate to reflect their chosen gender identity.
NCLR celebrated the court’s decision in a press release, writing that transgender Arizonans “may encounter practical problems and harms” without the ability to change their birth certificate. Staff attorney Rachel Berg said the organization was “thrilled” and said birth certificates are “critically important to the health and well-being of transgender people,” while Cooley LLP attorney Barrett Anderson described current Arizona law as “discriminatory and unconstitutional.”
Transgender advocates claim Arizona law requires transgender individuals seeking to change their birth certificate to have surgery before a request will be considered, but Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) told The Arizona Sun Times that the lawsuit stems from an incorrect understanding of state law.
“Plaintiffs misunderstand Arizona law,” Petersen said in a statement to The Sun Times. The Senate president argued that Arizona “doesn’t require minors to get sex change operations to change their birth certificate” but “simply requires them to get approval from a judge.” Petersen added, “That makes sense.”
Petersen, joined by Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria), recently intervened in a separate lawsuit aiming to strike another Arizona law. That law seeks to prevent transgender students who were born male from competing in female school sports. That lawsuit, too, was filed by NCLR on behalf of Arizona parents.
The law was recently blocked by U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer Zipps in July, prompting a new court filing by an attorney representing Petersen and Toma in their positions as the state’s top legislators. In the filing, the legislators’ lawyer argued that “there is a competitive advantage for boys over girls before puberty, and there is not a scintilla of evidence that puberty blockers and hormone therapy eliminate this advantage.”
When the NCLR filed the birth certificate lawsuit in 2020, the transgender children involved were six, 10, and 13 years old. Aiming to allow younger people to change their birth certificate, the lawsuit points to the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual, which states children can develop gender dysphoria between the ages of two and five.
