Sunday, October 15, 2017 will go down as a historic day, as California Governor, Jerry Brown, signed new legislation that will allow the residents of California to choose a gender other than male or female on official documents.
The bill, known as the Gender Recognition Act, was proposed by state senators, Toni Atkins and Scott Wiener back in January.
Wiener stated:
“As the LGBT community — but especially the trans community — is under assault in this country, California needs to go in the opposite direction and embrace the trans community and support the trans community and modernize these laws.”
California’s registrar will be required to issue new birth certificates to those who wish to identify as another gender, or as a third non-binary option.
According to the National Center for Transgender Equality:
“Non-binary is described as a person who does not identify with the category of “man” or “woman,” or “male” or “female.” For Example, some people have a gender that blends elements of being a man or a woman, or a gender that is different than either male or female. Some people don’t identify with any gender. Some people’s gender changes over time.”
The Gender Recognition Act will make it easier for transgender people to change their identification on birth certificates and driver’s Licenses. The new legislation no longer requires a statement from a doctor stating that they’ve undergone clinical treatment.
According to the Huffington Post, a number of other countries already have, or are in the process of passing legislation that allows citizens to legally identify outside the gender binary. This includes: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, U.K., Pakistan and Nepal.
