Trans-rights advocates raise alarm over Quebec birth certificate proposal, calling it 'huge regression'
CTV
The Quebec government quietly proposed a legal change on Thursday that trans-rights advocates call regressive.
Under a new bill, Quebecers would only be allowed to request a change of sex on their birth certificate after first undergoing surgery on their sexual organs, according to the bill's terminology.
The change was drafted as a response to a court judgment earlier this year forcing Quebec to be more accommodating to transgender people, but it doesn't accomplish that, advocates said.
Instead, they said, it's a step backwards. Right now, Quebecers can change the sex designation on their birth certificates if it doesn't correspond with their gender identity, without having to undergo any sort of medical treatment.
The proposed changes, tabled as part of Bill 2 on family law, would give transgender people two new options instead of the one they have now -- but neither is better than the current system, advocates say.
