Senate Bill 10 would undo rules that would allow Montanans to change gender markers on their birth certificates without discriminatory hurdles

NEW YORK – GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, today denounced the Montana Senate for passing the anti-trans bill SB 10 that aims to undo the work by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (HHS) to make it easier for Montanans to change birth certificate gender makers.

“The Montana Senate is failing all their constituents by focusing their efforts on discrimination and bigotry during an emergency special session to fix the state budget,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD. “This bill is a clear effort to walk back progress and create complicated and discriminatory roadblocks for trans Montanans seeking documents that accurately reflect who they are.”

Senate Bill 10 was introduced as part of Montana’s current special session, called to address the state’s budget shortfall. The Montana HHS held a public hearing last month for a proposed rule change that, if enacted, would longer require a court order saying the person has completed gender confirmation surgery in order to correct the gender on their birth certificate. Now, the state legislature is working to stop the proposal from going into effect. After being introduced yesterday, today SB 10 advanced through committee and the Senate and is now moving the House.