By Logan Langlois
NASHVILLE, TN — The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently heard the arguments for the case of four transgender Tennesseans who are challenging a state statute preventing transgender people from changing the gender listed on their birth certificates. The plaintiffs argue the Tennessee policy places transgender residents in situations that could cause physical and emotional hardship when they are required to produce identification that clashes with their current gender identity. The case was filed by lead plaintiff and co-founder of Memphis trans-outreach program My Sistah’s House, Kayla Rena Gore, and Jason Scott, a transgender man who was prevented from enrolling in the first semester of a Seattle community college following confusion regarding his Tennessee birth certificate that lists him as female, along with two anonymous transgender women.
Representation for Gore said on Channel 5 Nashville that Gore has been refused service and called slurs in the past when producing an ID that showcases her incorrect gender. They argue further that average citizens don’t typically realize how often entities such as administrative agencies ask people to produce government identification, and that the current legislation could cause physical and emotional harm to those who live with an ID that does not represent their gender.
“Having documents that represent your gender … gives trans people a little more confidence when they’re going into regular spaces,” Gore said. “I feel a better sense of pride of who I am and how I’m showing up, or even the fact that I’m showing up, because I have documents that truly represent who I am.”
Though she was able to get her passport changed, Trump-nominated U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson dismissed Gore’s case when she and her fellow plaintiffs first filed their lawsuit against the state of Tennessee in 2019. In his decision, Judge Richardson wrote that the term “sex” as used in Tennessee legislation “has a very narrow and specific meaning,” and regarding birth certificates is determined by “external genitalia at the time of birth.” Following the dismissal, the Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security (TDOS) created a rule that as of July 1 2023, they would “no longer accept requests for gender marker changes that are inconsistent with someone’s designated sex on their original birth certificate.”
Though Tennessee state law allows for TDOS to pass legislation such as this, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said they can only do so after the department alerts the public to the changes they want to make ahead of time. The ACLU said public notice must be done by publishing their plan on the website of the Tennessee Secretary of State for a certain amount of time, something they say TDOS never did.
Gore, who was sick and unable to attend the hearing, said she did not feel it went in the plaintiffs’ favor. She said she largely expected this outcome, as Tennessee is a state that has a history of ruling against pro-LGBTQ+ legislation. She said since the hearing, she had been organizing fundraising efforts with My Sistah’s House to help trans and non-gender conforming people to obtain their passports, as it is a universal identifying document that works much to the same function as state identification and the gender marker of which is still able to be changed.
“Even if they’re not attempting to travel out of the country,” Gore said, “We want them to have that document that fully represents who they are.”
Those interested in following My Sistah’s House online can do so on Facebook and Instagram, or at mshmemphis.org.
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