Madison – Today, Representative Lindee Brill (R-Sheboygan Falls) and Senator Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) began circulating a bill which, if passed, would ensure that a birth certificate remains a reliable and biologically factual legal document in the State of Wisconsin. Specifically, it prevents the alteration of a birth certificate to reflect a sex other than a person’s biological sex. In her description of the bill, Representative Brill provided the following explanation:
“Sex-based distinctions and protections are a critical element of Wisconsin’s civil rights infrastructure. These protections depend on a consistent and reliable instrument of identification. Almost all meaningful forms of identification ultimately derive their veracity from a birth certificate. Therefore, any effective sex-based distinction or protection in state or federal law ultimately depends on the reliability and biological veracity of birth certificates.
“Sex-based protections defend men and women against unjust discrimination, ensure equal access to employment, sports, and healthcare, and provide the legal groundwork upon which women’s shelters, including shelters for victims of sexual assault or domestic violence, are built.”
Fluidity and imprecision of language with regard to sex introduce ambiguities into law and policy which put women at risk. In keeping with federal policy regarding distinctions of sex in reference to sex-protective laws expressed in Executive Order 14168, this bill would prohibit the modification of a birth certificate to indicate any sex other than the registrant’s biological sex at birth.
Representative Brill remarked, “I urge my colleagues and all Wisconsinites to support this basic, common-sense legislation to ensure our birth certificates reflect reality, not ideology.”
The representative’s office is located in Room 409 North at the Wisconsin State Capitol. She may be reached at (608) 237-9127 or by email at Rep.Brill@legis.wisconsin.gov.
Representative Lindee Brill (R-Sheboygan Falls) serves the 27th Assembly District which includes portions of Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Calumet, and Manitowoc counties.
