Judge Says How Idaho is Defining What Goes on Birth Certificates Violates Her Previous Order

By Greg Pruett • August 11, 2020

Earlier this year, Idaho passed several controversial laws.

One law banned biological boys from participating in girl’s sports at the high school or collegiate level. That law is currently being litigated.

However, there was another bill that also drew a lot of controversy. The bill, HB 509, was the work of Rep. Julianne Young (Republican – Blackfoot) and was eventually signed into law by Governor Little after passing both chambers of the Idaho legislature.

The bill clarified what could and could not be changed on an Idaho birth certificate and what processes were required to make such changes.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale says that the law violated her order from 2018.

In her original order from 2018, the judge said the state cannot prohibit people from changing their sex at birth on their birth certificate.

She says the current law does the same thing as the old one. She said in a statement about the new law,

The plain language of the statute, as quoted, forecloses any avenue for a transgender individual to successfully challenge the sex listed on their Idaho birth certificate to reflect their gender identity.

Additionally, the judge said,

It is astonishing that the Idaho Legislature and Gov. Little plowed forward with resuscitating this dangerous and archaic ban in direct defiance of multiple court orders that repeatedly ordered the government to stop discriminating against transgender people,” said Nora Huppert, an attorney with Lambda Legal. “What was discriminatory in 2018 remains discriminatory today.

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We reached out to Rep. Julianne Young who authored the new bill and she said,

We are discussing the judge’s recent comments with our legal team and will be responding in full at a later time.

It remains to be seen what the state will do in response to the judge’s recent opinion. Currently, Governor Little has not released a statement on the issue.

We will update this article if any further comments are released.