SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah lawmaker is shelving a proposal that would have blocked transgender people from changing their gender on birth certificates, prompting a sigh of relief for LGBT advocates.
The legislation pulled Thursday by Republican Rep. Merrill Nelson would have changed general longstanding practice and declared a gender characteristics determined at birth “innate and immutable.”
The proposal had been condemned by LGBT groups and prompted warnings it could put the state in a negative national spotlight at a time when Salt Lake City is trying to attract a future Winter Olympics.
A competing proposal that would have created a clear path to changing documents has also been pulled.
The National Center on Transgender Identity says three states now prohibit changes to gender on birth certificates, though other laws have recently been overturned.
