Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has issued a brief defending the practice of listing an individual’s biological sex on a birth certificate rather than changing it later to reflect an individual’s gender identity.
Rokita
“The purpose of a birth certificate is obviously to establish a record of biological birth and certain relevant factual details of that occasion,” Rokita said. “To change the designated sex on a birth certificate at a later date is in effect falsifying that document.”
At issue before the Indiana Supreme Court is whether the judicial branch has the authority to order changes in the designated sex on birth certificates to make them match individuals’ preferences.
While the Indiana General Assembly possesses the authority to pass a law permitting such alterations, Rokita noted in a brief, the courts do not.
The brief pertains to a case in which a mother filed a petition with a court seeking to change a seven-year-old child’s designated sex from male to female. The child has been treated as a girl by family, peers and doctors since around age two, according to legal documents.
“We all should care about and sympathize with our fellow Hoosiers’ specific life experiences,” Rokita said. “By insisting on public policies that serve the greater good, we ultimately reinforce that principle rather than diminish it.”