“This is an opportunity to reduce risk of harassment and promote health equity,” a health department official said.
Residents of Washington state will soon be able to change the gender designation on their birth certificates.
The Seattle Times reports that the state’s health department is seeking to include those who identify as “intersex, agender, amalgagender, androgynous, bigender, demigender, female-to-male, genderfluid, genderqueer, male-to-female, neutrois, nonbinary, pangender, third sex, transgender, transsexual, Two Spirit and unspecified.”
“The most important thing is that we are trying to reflect that norms are changing and provide people with options that match their living experience,” Christie Spice of the Washington State Department of Health told the Times. “This is an opportunity to reduce risk of harassment and promote health equity.”
Oregon was the first state to approve an option other than male or female, and California’s similar law will take effect in September.
