Ohio Supreme Court punts on transgender people changing their birth certificates

The Ohio Supreme Court confirmed that state law prohibits a person from changing the gender marker on their birth certificate but said it could not agree on enforcement, the Ohio Capital Journal reports. Instead, the justices said the appropriate place to resolve the dispute is in the state’s legislature which has already shown hostility to the transgender community with laws on gender-affirming care for minors and trans athletes playing in sports according to their gender identity.

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The case involves Clark County resident Hailey Emmeline Adelaide, who requested a change to the sex marker on her birth certificate. The county probate court granted her request to change her name but said it lacked the legal authority to change the gender marker on her birth certificate.

“The probate court denied Adelaide’s application because her sex was properly and accurately recorded at the time of her birth, as demonstrated by her testimony that she was born with male anatomy,” Justice Patrick F. Fischer wrote in his opinion supporting the decision by an appeals court which upheld the probate court’s decision.

“In short, the birth certificate provides a snapshot of an event, the description of a moment, as it was then understood,” Justice Michael P. Donnelly wrote in a separate opinion also supporting the probate court.

According to court documents from the original case, Adelaide said she “had always identified as female — as long as she could remember” and that her gender identity had not changed over time.

The state’s Second District Court upheld the probate court’s decision, and Adelaide appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. The case was argued by lawyers from Tucker Ellis LLP and Equality Ohio Legal Clinic.

“Today, after more than three years of litigation, we are disappointed that this unopposed application for correction of birth certificate has been denied by a non-decision from the Ohio Supreme Court,” Chad Eggspuehler Esq., a partner at Tucker Ellis LLP, said in a joint press release with Equality Ohio Legal Clinic. “The absence of a precedential decision from the Ohio Supreme Court leaves unanswered important questions of law and leaves in place the disparate approaches taken by County Probate Courts.”

“We are disappointed with the outcome of this ruling, which is that our client has been denied the ability to update her gender marker on her birth certificate.” said Maya Simek, Esq., legal director at the Equality Ohio Legal Clinic, said in the press release. “Importantly, this ruling does not take a position on gender marker policy statewide, and we believe that probate courts should continue to honor the requests of transgender Ohioans who want to update the gender markers on their birth certificates. The Equality Ohio Legal Clinic is committed to advocating for transgender rights and pursuing all possible avenues to ensure legal protections and equitable treatment for LGBTQ+ Ohioans.”

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Ohio is viewed by many as hostile to the transgender community. The state lacks a statewide anti-discrimination law supporting the trans community, and earlier this month, the legislature approved a bill that would ban trans women from using bathrooms aligned with their gender identity. The bill applies to adult women as well as youth. If passed, Ohio would join Alabama, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Texas (Odessa), and Utah with similar bans for both adults and minors.