Kansas officials should not be required to change official birth certificates when transgender people ask them to do so under a new state law, a federal judge said.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree ruled Thursday that a new Kansas state law requiring birth certificates to reflect the male and female biological sex assigned to the individual at birth could be enforced, despite its clash with a federal agreement and ongoing legal challenges.
Previously, a federal consent agreement from 2018 required officials to change a person’s gender identity on their birth certificate when asked. It was first enforced the following year, in 2019. The judge said the federal agreement could be amended as the legality of the new Kansas law is determined at the state level.