As of January 1, 2019, New Yorkers who consider themselves neither male nor female will now be able to easily change their gender on their official documents.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday promulgated a new law allowing a third gender to be chosen on birth certificates, without it being necessary for this to be certified by a health professional.
As of January 1, 2019, non-binary people will be able to choose to change their gender to “X” on official city documents. Bill de Blasio, the city’s Democratic mayor, signed the text surrounded by trans’ and non-binary people.
“Be yourself. Live your truth”
“New Yorkers should feel free to tell their government who they are and not the other way around,” the city’s mayor said at the ceremony. “Be you. Live your truth. And know that New York sees you and supports you.”
“This change may seem trivial but it is monumental,” Tanya-Asapansa-Johnson Walker told the Huffington Post, a transgender activist who attended the ceremony on Tuesday. “Imagine having to justify yourself (about your gender) over and over to strangers … future generations won’t have to suffer anymore.”
President of City Council Corey Johnson, Democrat, presented the project last June. This was voted by 41 votes against 6 last September.
New York is now the fifth US state to recognize a third gender, neutral, on birth certificates. California, Washington, New Jersey and Oregon had already adopted this measure.
Already in 2014, the city had abolished the obligation to have surgery to be able to apply for a sex change.
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