Lawmakers at odds discussing SB314: Birth Certificate Mondernization Act
MARYLAND – A recent Senate Bill concerning birth certificates and gender markers has lawmakers at odds.
Senate Bill 314
Maryland Senate Bill 314 would codify transgender and non-binary adults’ ability to change sex designation on birth certificates. The legislation removes the requirement to provide medical documents in those requests and would not require that documentation to show that a person has changed their sex marker.
Minors would be able to make the change with parental permission.
Senator Support
Senators Lam and Waldstreicher are sponsors of the Birth Certificate Modernization Act, and Senator Clarence Lam says this bill addresses a legitimate problem. “It’s important to have a process in place for these individuals, particularly children, where their parent may change their name to have the ability for them to have a new birth certificate issued to them, with their proper parent’s name.”
Senator Skepticism
Maryland Senator Mary Beth Carozza on the other hand disagrees, saying Marylanders have other concerns. “I have hundreds of constituents right now coming to me on the high energy bill, very concerned about the cost of living, I have our poultry farmers who are concerned about the avian flu… Why in the world this would be a priority at this time when we are facing all these other challenges, in Maryland is beyond me.”
Non- Binary
If this were to pass, individuals could mark male, female, or ‘non-binary, other, or specified’- and would be signified by marking ‘X’. Senator Carozza says this is not a pressing issue and the Health Department has other issues to focus on. “We have still a growing fentanyl drug overdose crisis here in Maryland since COVID- when we saw those numbers increase. I want the Maryland Department of Health focused on those priorities.”
Senator Lam says the process should be the same across the board and this bill just like every other, is important. “We in the General Assembly deal with 3,000 Bills every year, about 1,000 of them pass, and all of those are important issues to those individuals that they affect. ” Senate Bill 314 has been crossed filled with House Bill 1368 and the hearing will take place tomorrow at 2:oo p.m. For more information on the bill, click the link.
