Judge pauses Montana’s enforcement of law that makes it harder for transgender residents to modify their birth certificates

The preliminary injunction issued by Judge Michael G. Moses means that, for now, Montanans wishing to change the sex designations on their birth certificates can continue doing so by submitting to Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services “a completed gender-designation form attesting to gender transition or providing government-issued identification displaying the correct sex designation or providing a certified court order indicating a gender change.”

That process had changed last year when Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed into law SB 280, which effectively required transgender Montanans to undergo a “surgical procedure” if they wanted to amend their birth certificates’ sex designations to match their gender identity.

He continued: “The court finds that plaintiffs have established a prima facie case that SB 280 (is) impermissibly vague in all of its applications and thereby unconstitutionally violates plaintiffs’ fundamental right to due process because it is unconstitutionally void.”

CNN has reached out to Gianforte’s office for comment.

“We are thrilled that the court recognized the substantial and unnecessary burdens this law places upon transgender individuals in violation of their constitutional rights,” said Akilah Lane, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, which helped bring the challenge.

“The court’s injunction affirms the basis of our case: that SB 280 intentionally targets transgender people for unequal treatment because, as Judge Moses wrote, ‘only transgender individuals are subjected to these procedures and burdens in order to have a birth certificate that accurately reflects their gender,'” she added.