Gender Dysphoria

Two Illinois-born women filed a lawsuit against the state Tuesday, asking it to issue new birth certificates that correctly identify their gender following sex reassignment surgery.

The complaint, filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, challenges a 2004 policy change by the Illinois Department of Vital Records to a 1961 law allowing the state to change the gender on an original birth certificate. The department’s policy change only allows this option if the surgery is performed by a United States-licensed physician.

Karissa Rothkopf, who lives in Wisconsin, and Chicagoan Victoria Kirk, the two plaintiffs in the suit, had their surgeries done in Thailand.

“My physician and I were concerned that the procedure utilized by many surgeons in the United States presented a significant risk of medical complications,” said Rothkopf, who traveled to Thailand for the surgery in 2007.  Rothkopf said the department’s policy hurts her even though she’s no longer an Illinois resident, adding her inability to correct her birth certificate has cost her "money, time, aggravation and worry."

Kirk said the state’s resistance to change the gender on her birth certificate concerns her greatly.

“Not only does this resistance mean that the State of Illinois will not recognize who I am,” she said, “it could create significant problems in the future,” such as boarding an airplane or having access to some federal benefits through Congress’ proposed “Real ID” program, Kirk added.

The birth certificates are the only documents that haven’t been changed for the women, as they’ve been able to modify their driver’s licenses, Social Security records and other identity forms.

John Knight, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, said the state's policy is a violation of the Vital Records Act and the Illinois Constitution, adding later it’s a “significant government error.”

He said the ACLU asked the department why this change was made, but they didn’t get an explanation. Knight added a bill was introduced in the Illinois House of Representatives in 2007 to change the policy, but was rejected.

Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, the bill’s sponsor, was not available for comment.

Both Kirk and Rothkopf knew they were female from an early age, even though they were identified as male at birth. Both underwent hormone therapy and began living their lives as females before their surgeries.

For Rothkopf, the decision to undergo surgery was one taken with the greatest of care, and that the Thai  physician  offered a single-step procedure for genital surgery and breast augmentation.

Clinical and Forensic Psychologist Dr. Randi Ettner said one-step surgical procedures, performed mostly in overseas countries, usually have fewer surgical risks, as opposed to the two-step procedures generally performed in the United States.

Kirk, who had her surgery in 2006, said she knew some that switch genders can be subject to acts of violence.

“Knowing all this, it was still important to me to live as the person that I am, and to conform my body to that gender,” she said.