Consulate General of Mexico in Sacramento to Issue First Amended Birth Certificate Recognizing the Gender Identity of a Transgender Person.
Earlier this year, the Mexican government instituted a policy change to allow Mexican nationals living abroad to change their legal name and gender markers at any Mexican Consulate. Before this rule change, people would have to travel to Mexico to make these small clerical changes which was a barrier to many people, especially transgender and gender-nonconforming people. Transgender people’s inability to change their legal name and gender marker on documents led to exclusion from jobs, housing, resources, and an experience that can be incredibly challenging.
“Today’s name change is the first in the state and is monumental in its significance,” says Alexis Sanchez, Director of Advocacy and Training at the Sacramento LGBT Community Center. “There will be one less barrier for all people in California to live authentically and have access to affirming services and care.”
Tomorrow on March 8, as part of the activities scheduled, the Consulate General of Mexico in Sacramento will hold a ceremony to issue the first amended birth certificate recognizing the gender identity of a transgender person. This act seeks to validate the freedom of all people, their dignity, and the protection of their human rights.
Since January, all Mexican consulates in the United States and the rest of the world began to issue amended birth certificates to transgender Mexican people without the need for them to travel to Mexico to complete this process. The Consulate General of Mexico in Sacramento is one of the first in California to issue an amended birth certificate recognizing the gender identity of a transgender person.