Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan 26, 2019 / 03:07 am
Proposed legislation in Utah would require the sex listed on birth certificates to reflect the sex of the person at birth, banning people from later requesting to change the sex listed on the document.
The bill would define male and female as "innate and immutable characteristics established at conception." In certain cases, a child's birth could be marked as indeterminate and later updated, but changes could not be requested based on gender identity, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. Individuals would still be able to legally change their name.
Republican State Rep. Merrill Nelson, who is introducing the bill, says it is based in science.
"[A]n individual's sex is determined at conception by chromosomal make-up and is not subject to change or self-determination later in life," he said in a statement to the Tribune.