TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill today that would have permitted people who underwent a clinical sex change procedure to amend their gender designation on their birth certificates.
Christie said changing a birth certificate would create opportunities for "fraud, deception and abuse, and should therefore be closely scrutinized and sparingly approved."
The matter is not dead, said Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen), one of the bill's sponsors.
"Gov. Christie's veto suggests that with safeguards he would have signed this legislation," Huttle said. "I plan to work with my colleagues and the Governor's office to get this legislation done during the next session."
Since 1984, state law has required the Department of Health to issue new birth certificates to people who have undergone sex change surgery. But not every transgender person goes that route, with some choosing hormone therapy instead.
The bill, (A4097) would have applied to people who have undergone “clinically appropriate treatment for the purpose of gender transition, based on contemporary medical standards, or that the person has an intersex condition," according to the legislation.
Barbra Casbar Siperstein, political director for the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey, called the veto "arbitrary, capricious and designed to harm transgender people who are the most vulnerable among LGBT New Jerseyans.”
Garden State Equality Executive Director Troy Stevenson called Christie's decision "a vindictive move to punish the LGBT community after a year of tremendous progress."
Same sex marriage was legalized by court order in October. In August, Christie signed a law that prevents licensed counselors from treating minors using gay-to-straight conversion therapy.
"This was a simple bureaucratic change, which would have offered tremendous support to the transgender community, and have zero effect on anyone else," said Stevenson.
ACLU Deputy Director Jeanne LoCicero said the governor's actions allows discrimination to continue.
"This bill would have provided a simple procedure for birth certificate amendments and would have aligned New Jersey policy with contemporary medical standards," LoCicero said. "Having access to basic identification documents that match one’s gender identity is a civil right.
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