Puerto Rico to allow 'X' as "gender" on birth certificates

The Federal Court for the District of Puerto Rico, through Judge Maria Antongiorgi Jordan, issued a ruling allowing non-binary people to change their birth certificate to reflect their identity with an "X."

In that sense, the decision orders the Government of Puerto Rico to modify the registration forms to include the "X" gender option. The judge held in the ruling that Puerto Rico's current birth certificate policy has no rational justification and, therefore, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

"Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment is therefore GRANTED and Defendants’ Cross Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED. Defendants are hereby ORDERED to promptly amend their Application for Gender Change form to include an option to select an “X” as one’s gender marker on their birth certificate", Antongiorgi said in the decision.

Meanwhile, Puerto Rico’s Republican governor, Jenniffer González Colón, declined to comment on the case, saying she would wait for the Puerto Rico Department of Justice’s recommendations before speaking about the decision.

"I am waiting for a memorandum from the Department of Justice to that effect, about what the recommendations are, likewise the Department of Health. Once I have that, I will be in a position to talk about how we are going to act on that determination," Gonzalez said.