April 23, 2014 - 2:42 PM
EDMONTON - A judge has ruled that an Alberta law dealing with birth certificates violates the rights of transgender people.
The ruling comes a week after Premier Dave Hancock announced changes will be made to the Vital Statistics Act.
The law says that transgender persons must have reassignment surgery before they can change the sex on their birth certificates.
Hancock says the surgery requirement will be dropped, but there is no word on when that might happen.
Justice Brian Burrows says the government has 30 days to issue a new birth certificate to a 23-year-old transgender woman who filed the legal challenge.
He says the current legislation violates the Constitution and can no longer be in force.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014