When Rep. Taylor Small, P/D-Winooski, walked into the House on Tuesday, a new legislative page came up to her to thank her for sponsoring H.628, a bill that would make it easier for Vermonters to amend their birth certificates to reflect their gender identity.
“It was unexpected and absolutely heartwarming,” Small said of the spontaneous interaction with the page, one of many eighth-graders who spend weeks at the Statehouse each session supporting the Legislature. “Youth are watching, and they are seeing this change, and they are excited about it.”
The House approved H.628 by voice vote Tuesday. Following a final vote in the House, likely on Wednesday, it would then move to the Senate for consideration.
“Identity validation in and of itself saves lives,” Small said on the House floor.
In November 2020, Small became the first openly transgender person elected to the Vermont House and one of four openly transgender state legislators in the country at the time.
Some members did raise questions about the bill on the House floor Tuesday. Rep. Barbara Murphy, I-Fairfax, expressed concern that if the bill became law, the new gender marker would create a bottleneck when applying for federal identification.
“If I’m able to have my birth certificate altered,” she asked, “have I now made a real problem for myself in being able to get that federal ID?”
The federal government is working on allowing additional gender markers, Small said. “The process of updating our passport forms will be completed in early 2022,” the State Department’s website said.
The Vermont bill would allow individuals to self-attest their gender identity, streamlining a process that currently involves courts and doctors.
The legislation also grants rule-making authority to the state Department of Health to add additional pronouns in the future, striving to “​​foster a gender literate environment,” according to the bill.
If H.628 becomes law, Vermont would join 14 other states and Washington, D.C., in recognizing a third gender marker — an “X” — on birth certificates.
In an interview with VTDigger, Small stressed that the bill would not create a new process but rather update and simplify a process that already exists.
“There is not a significant change other than helping those in the trans and nonbinary community to be able to see themselves validated on their vital records,” she said.
LGBTQ+ advocacy groups have voiced support for the legislation.
“What this bill comes down to is creating a level of ease and access so that everybody is accurately reflected on one of the most basic legal documents that exist,” said Dana Kaplan, executive director of Outright Vermont, a Burlington-based nonprofit that works with LGBTQ+ youth.
“​​It’s not rocket science. Give people a chance to be included and to have access to the things that they need, and their quality of life goes up.”