RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Diversity advocacy groups have asked the state of Virginia to make it easier for a transgender person born in the state to get one's gender changed on birth certificates.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports the state requires a person to submit proof of a sex reassignment surgery and get a court order that specifies the gender and name in order to amend a birth certificate.
Equality Virginia and the National Center for Transgender Equality want to make it easier for people to bypass the court process so they could directly request the change by going to the health department's Division of Vital Records.
James Parrish, executive director of Equality Virginia, says they have petitioned the state to recognize what they call a modern understanding of "appropriate treatment" for transgender people.
