Trans Oklahomans Sue State for Refusing to Amend Gender on Birth Certificates

Three transgender Oklahomans are taking a stand against the state, suing Governor Kevin Stitt and the state’s health commissioner, filed by Lambda Legal, over an executive order that they say blocks trans folks’ ability to change their gender designation on birth certificates.

Back in November, Stitt signed an executive order that barred the Oklahoma Health Department from issuing nonbinary birth certificates. Following the order, the health department says it can’t amend a person’s gender marker on a state-issued birth certificate, even if that person presents a court order, the lawsuit states. Before, the agency required a court order to change the sex designation on a birth certificate.

“Governor Stitt’s executive order deprives transgender people born in Oklahoma of equal treatment under the law,” says Shelly Skeen, senior attorney for New York-based Lambda Legal. “Other people have access to birth certificates that match who they are, but the government has singled out transgender people to take away their ability to access birth certificates that match who they are.”

The trans Oklahomans filed the lawsuit on Monday in federal court, alleging that, by refusing to amend gender designations on birth certificates, Oklahoma is violating free speech rights protected by the First Amendment by forcing trans Oklahomans to identify themselves as a gender that doesn’t match their true gender identity.

The plaintiffs are asking a judge to declare the policies as unconstitutional and compel the health department to change a person’s birth marker upon request to reflect their gender identity. In addition, the plaintiffs ask a judge to prohibit the state from designating on amended birth certificates that information was modified from its original issuance. The lawsuit states that these protections are necessary to protect the privacy of trans individuals.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two Tulsa residents, Rowan Fowler and Allister Hall, and one Creek County resident, identified by the initials C.R. Fowler is a trans woman, and Hall and C.R. are trans men, according to the lawsuit.

Each claim that the state health department recently rejected their attempts to amend their birth certificates to reflect their gender. Fowler speaks out in a statement, asserting that having a birth certificate who “reflects who I am as a human being” is crucial and presents a basic issue of personal safety.

“The state’s denial of my existence is discriminatory and puts me in harm’s way,” Fowler says. “There was no reason for Oklahoma to take away this basic tool that transgender people need to simply go about their everyday lives with dignity, safety, and respect.”

Stitt’s office and the state health department have yet to comment on the lawsuit.