Letter: Don't change gender on birth certificates
Voters shouldn't elect judges. Credit: Jim Peppler, 2011
The group bringing a lawsuit about transgender identification before New York City's health committee is asking for something that is illegal: forging or corrupting or defacing an official document ["Transgender issue mulled," News, Nov. 11].
A birth certificate is a legal document recorded at the time of the arrival of a new citizen on Earth in a specific town, city or country. To go back and change the gender designation would set precedent for any number of "adjustments" to the official records the government needs to identify its citizenry.
I cannot know what living a transgendered life is like, nor do I pretend to speak as an authority. On the legal aspect, though, I feel compelled to comment. I realize gender identification may be an inconvenience, an affront and maybe even inaccurate, in a sense, to some members of society.
However, the health committee must not yield on this issue. We as a country need to be able to identify people. The proposal recommended in the lawsuit sounds awfully Orwellian to me.
Nancy Macri Kennedy, Huntington Station
