(PatriotPostNews.com) — A federal court has rejected an appeal from a group of plaintiffs who sought to overturn a long-held ban on changing biological gender listed on one’s birth certificate.
The decision—made in a 2-1 ruling on Friday, July 12, in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals—upheld a previous decision to dismiss a lawsuit brought on by self-identified “transgender” Tennessee natives.
The case challenged the decades-old statute and sought a verdict that supported the argument that the United States Constitution required that the Volunteer State allow individuals to amend their birth certificates, so they matched a perceived “gender identity.” Rather, Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote that there is “no fundamental right” to have “gender identity” that opposes one’s biology recorded on birth certificates.
Sutton added, on behalf of the majority, that the Tennessee rule has been in place “for decades,” noting that it “long predates” the rising number of gender dysphoria diagnoses. The court’s decision also found that the plaintiffs failed to prove substantive due process regarding their argued “right” to change their birth certificates. This right, Sutton said, is not traditionally or historically held in American law.
The ruling also pointed out that allowing individuals to change their birth certificates to reflect a perceived “gender identity” gives rise to complications in practical matters such as record-keeping. Judge Helene White, the dissenting judge on the appellate panel, accused the ruling of “forcing” gender confused Tennesseans to adhere to their biology with birth certificates and complained that it would lead to “harm and discrimination.”
On the other hand, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti applauded the decision, saying he is “grateful” to the court for upholding the law, which has focused on “biological fact” in birth certificate records that have “never addressed gender identity.”
The ruling upholds a June 2023 decision in which a judge dismissed the lawsuit challenging the 1977 law that bars changes to original birth certificates. A subsequent appeal was filed the following October, which led to arguments in court in May and the final ruling on the case last week.
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