[JURIST] Democrats in the California State Senate [official website] introduced a bill [SB 179 materials] on Thursday that would make California the first state to include three gender options on state identification documents: male, female and non-binary. The bill was introduced in the Senate by Senator Toni Atkins and co-written by Senator Scott Wiener [official websites]. If passed, the Gender Recognition Act of 2017 would add a non-binary category as well as simplifying the process [press release] for transgender Californians to change their gender on state documents by removing the requirements of a physician’s testimony and in-person court appearance. Minors would also be permitted to change their genders on state documents instead of having to wait until their eighteenth birthdays. Atkins says [AP report], “Transgender people face discrimination in their everyday lives when they use IDs that do not match the gender they appear to be.” She says the bill would decrease this discrimination. The non-binary category is not available for federal identification documents.

The transgender community has face significant legal challenges in recent years. In June a judge ordered [JURIST report] a Virginia school board to allow transgender students to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity. Also in June a judge from Multnomah County Circuit Court in Oregon ruled [JURIST report] that an individual’s gender could be legally changed from female to non-binary. In the same month, a US magistrate judge issued [JURIST report] an order requiring California prions to provide transgender inmates who identify as female access to female-oriented items to which inmates have access in women’s correctional facilities. The ban on transgender persons from serving in the military was just lifted [JURIST report] in July. In January a Georgia appeals court overturned [JURIST report] the denial of transgender name changes.