PIERRE, South Dakota (LifeSiteNews) — The South Dakota Supreme Court this week unanimously affirmed a lower court’s ruling that individuals who identify as “transgender” do not have the right to have the sex or name on their birth certificates changed to reflect their current “gender identity.”
In its ruling, published March 5, South Dakota’s high court affirmed the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court’s previous ruling that citizens cannot alter the sex or name written on their birth certificate unless an error was made at the time of birth, stressing that the documents are critical for the state’s records and not meant to reflect an individual’s current “gender identity.”
The case stemmed from a petition brought by “Sigrid” Nielson, a male who identifies as a “transgender woman” and who had petitioned the state to have the sex on his birth certificate changed to “female” and his birth name “Michael” to “Sigrid,” arguing that the state of Minnesota had legally recognized his name and sex “changes.” But the high court emphasized that keeping accurate records of an individual’s biological sex on birth certificates is vital for the state Department of Health’s tracking of data.
“The Department (of Health) maintains there is a rational relationship between the correct designation of sex at birth on a birth certificate and a legitimate government purpose,” the justices’ opinion read. “It notes that the ‘state has spent years tracking large amounts of data points at the date of birth.’ Not only does the Department track the data on certificates, it also publishes the ‘statistical data derived from such records.’”
“Thus, there is a rational relationship between a rule that only allows an amendment to statistical data to reflect an error at the time of birth and the State’s legitimate interest in maintaining accurate vital records from which the data therein can be properly analyzed and published,” the opinion continued.
READ: The transgender narrative falls apart when reasonable people resist the propaganda
Nielson had also argued that his not being allowed to change the sex and name listed on his birth certificate was a violation of his “equal protection” rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, but the court rejected this notion, emphasizing that the state Department of Health’s regulations concerning birth certificates apply equally, regardless of whether an individual identifies as “transgender.”
Several states have cracked down on gender-confused individuals changing their name and sex on government-issued documents.
In 2024, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced that Texans would no longer be permitted to change the sex listed on their driver’s license, birth certificate, or other state-issued IDs unless there was a clerical error on the ID. More recently, in February 2026, the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles similarly stopped allowing so-called “transgenders” from having their biological gender listed on their driver’s license, birth certificate, or other state-issued IDs.
READ: Indiana will no longer let gender-confused people change sex on drivers licenses, IDs
