Non-Binary Birth Certificates: What to Know Before Getting One
Having your lived gender correctly recognized is a crucial part of day-to-day life. Fortunately, if you’re looking to get a non-binary birth certificate to reflecting a transition to another gender or to bring your child up gender neutral there are more and more ways to do it.
This is, however, usually state specific. You can’t choose to get a change of gender on your birth certificate everywhere across the US. However, there are also increasingly many more states that allow these options with few legal barriers.
We’re going to look over what those options consist of. This will cover what states you can choose a non-gender specific marker on a child or adult’s birth certificate and how to register it.
Genderless Birth Certificate Options Across the US
There are a few options open to non-binary or trans people in certain states. These places legally recognize non-binary residents and allow them to either be genderless on their birth certificate or to change their gender.
Where this is available, it allows the individuals to update their legal ID to their preferred gender or reflect non-binary status. This can often be done without the need to prove either legally or medically that you are going through a gender transition of any kind.
Some of the most common ways this can be carried out include:
- Using a third gender “x” on a birth certificate or ID
- Allowing the child to change to their preferred gender marker
However, as yet, it isn’t possible to allow a child to be gender neutral on official documents at their time of birth. Therefore, when raising a child non-binary you will have to update the minor’s records after receiving their first official birth certificate.
This is available to parents in states where gender-neutral birth certificates are allowed. In these areas they may request a change of gender markers on official documents up to the age of 18 on behalf of their child.
States that Permit Non-Binary Birth Certificates
As already mentioned some states are sticklers for the status quo when it comes to gender fluid or non-binary birth certificates. This is gradually changing but in a lot of places the legislation hasn’t caught up with the current realities.
However, a good number of states do allow you to make this change if you or your child decides that they wish to amend their vital records and birth certificates to reflect non-binary status. These jurisdictions include:
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- Rhode Island
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Utah
- Washington
- Washington D.C.
Depending on the state, you might not be able to change someone’s records without medical or court permission. In some situations the change may not be permitted at all without undergoing gender reassignment surgery.
However, a lot of states are reviewing the rules on how to amend personal records to reflect non-binary or gender transitioning residents. It is therefore possible that more states could allow these changes to ID documents in the future.
How to Register for a Non-Binary Birth Certificate
This very much depends on where you are living. Each state sets its own rules and criteria for what people must provide to update their own gender or a minor’s on a birth certificate.
In most cases, this will involve the following steps:
- You will need to visit your local vital records office.
- Submit a form amending the details on your certificate.
- Depending on the state you might need to provide evidence such as a court order or medical report indicating your gender transition.
Having official ID that correctly reflects your gender is naturally highly important to people who are trans or non-binary and their families.
It is slowly but surely getting simpler to make changes to your gender information on official ID documents. However, it is still somewhat of a lottery as to where and how you are able to do this.
