Governor Kate Brown [official website] signed a bill [materials] on Wednesday that allows for transgender Oregonians to make updates to their birth certificates without publicly doing so through the court system. Before the legislation, amendments to document concerning people’s names and genders were required to be publicly posted by the courts. The new bill also allows for changed records to be sealed so potential future employers and landlords are unable to discriminate based on gender identity changes. A 2015 survey conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality [advocacy website] showed that just one in 10 transgender people have legal identification that matches their gender identity. Reduced costs and fewer processing hurdles will make it easier for transgender individuals to obtain the identification required to find jobs and receive access to medical care. The law will go into effect January 2018.

The transgender community has faced significant legal changes and challenges in the last year. Also on Wednesday California senators approved a bill [text] in a 26-12 vote that will add a third gender option to state IDs for people who identify as non-binary. In April the US Department of Justice [official website] dropped a lawsuit [JURIST report] against North Carolina concerning a bill requiring transgender people to use the public bathroom associated with their birth gender. North Carolina repealed [JURIST report] House Bill 2 in March with the passage of House Bill 142. Last May former North Carolina governor Pat McCrory filed a complaint for declaratory judgment asking the federal court to weigh in on the legality of the bill but withdrew [JURIST report] from the lawsuit in September. In March 2016 North Carolina individuals and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against McCrory, claiming that the bill was unconstitutional and discriminatory. Earlier that month McCrory signed the bill into law [JURIST report], preventing local governments from enacting their own nondiscrimination ordinances and making them unable to pass laws allowing transgender people to use the public restroom or locker room that corresponds with their gender identity.