Plaintiffs sue over Montana transgender law

Town Crier “Briefs from the Region” (2) – 7/19/21

Amelia Marquez, 27, from Billings, and John Doe, 22, a Bozeman-born man, are suing the state of Montana over Senate Bill 280. Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, the bill they are challenging requires that a transgender person undergo gender-affirming surgery before they can change the gender on their birth certificate, reversing a 2017 Department of Public Health and Human Services policy. The lawsuit argues that gender-affirming surgery is not “medically necessary or medically desirable” for every transgender person and claims the state has no role in an individual’s decision. The lawsuit also says that the DPHHS policy did just fine without incident for the years it was in place.