Birth certificate gender change for trans people gets streamlined in Buncombe County

ASHEVILLE - Buncombe’s Register of Deeds has streamlined the process of getting gender changed on birth certificates, a process that now requires only one form of ID to make the important alteration and helps create systemic equity and accurate documentation for transgender people, officials said.

“Individuals born in Buncombe County now have simple options to make an amendment on their birth certificate,” Register of Deeds Drew Reisinger said in an Aug. 23 news release.

He said if a resident has updated their state driver’s license gender, that is the only proof they will need to bring to the Register of Deeds to change their birth certificate gender.

The move comes after a federal judge ordered North Carolina government to correctly note on birth certificates the gender of its transgender residents: transgender people no longer have to undergo sex reassignment surgery in order for them to obtain an accurate birth certificate.

Rosie Bullock, 24, is a genderqueer person living in Asheville. They said they are currently on hormones and looking for top surgery.

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“As a trans individual this is absolutely incredible, I have chills hearing that,” Bullock said. “Hearing that I could possibly be able to change my birth certificate to the gender that I identify as, it’s just incredible. It feels like I can actually come into my own person now, actually becoming myself. To hear that society is pushing this and that laws are pushing this, that’s incredible.”

While a person’s gender can be changed on their birth certificate more easily in Buncombe County, name changes are a different matter.

According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, in order to update the legal name on a North Carolina ID, an applicant has to obtain a court order for name change, and must update their name with the Social Security Administration at least 36 hours before going to the DMV.

Though it is just a step, Buncombe officials say it is one made in the right direction.

“This is a vital step toward helping provide not just proper documentation, but dignity and validation for people who are transgender,”  said Buncombe County Chief Equity and Human Rights Officer Rachel Edens in the release. “I applaud Register of Deeds Drew Reisinger for prioritizing and streamlining this process. Buncombe County is now in line with the American Medical Association’s recommendation that every individual has the right to determine their gender identity on government documents.”

Executive Director of Blue Ridge Pride Tina White said she was excited to hear the news and encouraged local governments to keep going.

“Shelters and long-term care,” need to be better, she said. “Our shelters are not trans-welcome by and large.”

Privilege is having access to an “unencumbered network of peers,” she said.

“And when you’re kicked out of homes and schools and shelters, you’ve lost every network imaginable,” she said.

White said she also wants to see Buncombe and Asheville participate in the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index, a database that “examines how inclusive municipal laws, policies, and services are of LGBTQ+ people who live and work there,” according to HRC’s website.

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Buncombe and Asheville have the option to participate in it, White said, and could discover disparities in how their systems currently serve or underserve people in the LGBTQ community.

Asked what other things Buncombe could be proactive about when it comes to supporting the trans community, Bullock said health care should be a front-running priority.

“Listen to us and what we need,” Bullock said. “Push trans health care. It’s life-saving health care … . Being able to live as myself has saved my life.”

Andrew Jones is Buncombe County government and health care reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at @arjonesreports on Facebook and Twitter, 828-226-6203 or arjones@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Buncombe streamlines process to change birth certificate gender