Trans people don’t change gender. They stop hiding it.
Updating a birth certificate is fixing an error
It’s also a strange point to hold ideologically. Why is “at birth” an ideal to hold above others? In literally any circumstance where a birth certificate is needed, “now” is going to be more useful than information that is decades out of date. Nothing is gained from holding to an ideal that puts out of date information above current information, so appeals to treat it as sacrosanct always make me wonder exactly what it is that makes people put pointless ideals above the very real impact incorrect information has
“At birth” isn’t an ideal - it’s a fact. FFS - it’s in the actual name of the certificate.
The exact and only point of a birth certificate is to record that on such-and-such date at such-and-such time, a baby was born to [this] person, and it possessed [these] distinguishing characteristics. That’s it. Who or what that baby became later in life isn’t relevant. At all.
In literally any circumstance where a birth certificate is needed, “now” is going to be more useful than information that is decades out of date.
Which is in fact exactly why I said that “that’s an argument against using, or requiring, a birth certificate as ID” - because a birth certificate, of necessity, is a record of information that’s significantly out-of-date.
The ideal in question isn’t “at birth”, it’s whatever it is that drives folk to think “at birth” somehow matters more than “now”
because a birth certificate, of necessity, is a record of information that’s significantly out-of-date.
There is no such necessity. I live in Australia. Here, trans folk can get their birth certificate amended to reflect their correct gender.
If it was a “necessity” that it not be changed, that wouldn’t be possible.
Your insistence that it can’t be changed “for reasons” isn’t a necessity, it’s an ideal (and a harmful one at that).
The ideal in question isn’t “at birth”, it’s whatever it is that drives folk to think “at birth” somehow matters more than “now”
If that’s the point you want to argue, you’ll have to go find somebody who holds that ideal, which means someone other than me.
My point is and always has been very simple - a birth certificate is a just that - a record that on some specific date at some specific time, a baby was born to some specific person. That’s it. That’s all it is.
That doesn’t mean or even imply that “‘at birth’ matters more than ‘now’.” It means that a birth certificate has one and only one job - to record a birth - and anything and everything after that is some other document’s job.
And in fact, I would say it’s undeniable that “now” is more important than “at birth,” which, again, is exactly why the very first thing I said was that, to me, the whole issue is an argument against using, or requiring, a birth certificate for ID.
To me, it’s as if you’re arguing that a doorbell should also be a microwave oven, and when I point out that a doorbell’s job is to be a doorbell, you accuse me of holding the “ideal” that doorbells are more important than microwave ovens.
Do they maintain a record of it’s alterations though.
Ed: answer yes, so there is still record that it is not your birth gender it just isn’t easily accessible unless the legal system gets involved.
If you were born in N.S.W. and have had gender reassignment surgery, you can apply to have your birth certificate amended to reflect your correct gender. The new birth certificate will not show that you have changed your gender, but there will be a note on your new certificate that says your birth was “previously registered in another name”. Your birth will be registered in the current year showing the new sex. Access to your original birth record is restricted by legislation, but can be accessed under certain circumstances
