Bill Text: NY A05969 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to court recognition of a change of gender, adds gender to procedures regarding change of name.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 31-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to governmental operations [A05969 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A05969-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5969 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY March 3, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BURDICK -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Governmental Operations AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to court recognition of a change of gender The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions 2 and 3 of section 61 of the civil rights law 2 are renumbered subdivisions 5 and 6 and three new subdivisions 2, 3 and 3 4 are added to read as follows: 4 2. The petition to change a petitioner's name may also request that 5 the court recognize and direct a change in the petitioner's gender. 6 Such request shall be accompanied, a) by an affidavit from the petition- 7 er, which affidavit shall be accepted as conclusive proof of gender 8 change if it contains substantially the following language: "I, 9 (petitioner's full name), hereby attest under penalty of perjury that 10 the request for a change in gender to (female, male, or nonbinary) is to 11 conform my legal gender to my gender identity and is not for any fraudu- 12 lent purpose"; and b) certification by a medical professional who has 13 treated the petitioner in the following form: "I, (physician's full 14 name), (physician's medical license or certificate number), (issuing 15 U.S. State/Foreign Country of medical license/certificate), am the 16 physician of (name of patient), with whom I have a doctor/patient 17 relationship and whom I have treated (or with whom I have a 18 doctor/patient relationship and whose medical history I have reviewed 19 and evaluated). (Name of patient) has had appropriate clinical treatment 20 for gender transition to the new gender (specify male or female). I 21 declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States 22 that the foregoing is true and correct. (Signature) (Typed Name) 23 (Date)". EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD09083-02-1A. 5969 2 1 3. A petitioner may make a request for an order recognizing and 2 directing a change in petitioner's gender by motion under the Index 3 Number of an already granted name change. 4 4. A petitioner may make a request for an order recognizing and 5 directing a change in petitioner's gender by in writing, signed by the 6 petitioner and verified in like manner as a pleading in court of record, 7 and shall specify the grounds of the application, the name, date of 8 birth, place of birth, age and residence of the individual whose name is 9 proposed to be changed and the name which he or she proposes to assume. 10 § 2. Section 63 of the civil rights law, as amended by chapter 253 of 11 the laws of 2014, is amended to read as follows: 12 § 63. Order. If the court to which the petition is presented is satis- 13 fied thereby, or by the affidavit and certificate presented therewith, 14 that the petition is true, and that there is no reasonable objection to 15 the change of name and/or gender proposed, and if the petition be to 16 change the name and/or gender of an infant, that the interests of the 17 infant will be substantially promoted by the change, the court shall 18 make an order authorizing the petitioner to assume the name and/or 19 gender proposed. The order shall further recite the date and place of 20 birth of the applicant and, if the applicant was born in the state of 21 New York, such order shall set forth the number of his birth certificate 22 or that no birth certificate is available. If a gender change is 23 approved the order shall state that "the term gender as used in this 24 order is inclusive of sex or any other term identifying Petitioner's 25 status as male or female" and that "the Court directs that any govern- 26 ment agency or administrative body amend the sex on Petitioner's docu- 27 ments, including, but not limited to, birth certificate, from 28 (Male/Female) to (Female/Male/Non Binary). It is, therefore, ordered, 29 adjudged and decreed that the sex indicated on Petitioner's documents, 30 including, but not limited to, birth certificate, be changed to 31 (Male/Female/Non Binary). The order may be tailored to meet the require- 32 ments of any specific agency and shall be directed to be entered and the 33 papers on which it was granted to be filed prior to the publication 34 hereinafter directed in the clerk's office of the county in which the 35 petitioner resides if he be an individual, or in the office of the clerk 36 of the civil court of the city of New York if the order be made by that 37 court. Such order shall also direct the publication, at least once, 38 within sixty days after the making of the order, in a designated newspa- 39 per in the county in which the order is directed to be entered and if 40 the petition is made by a person subject to the provisions of subdivi- 41 sion two of section sixty-two of this article, in a designated newspaper 42 in any county wherein such person was convicted if different from the 43 county in which the order is otherwise directed to be entered, of a 44 notice in substantially the following form: Notice is hereby given that 45 an order entered by the ............ court,............ county, on the 46 ...... day of......., bearing Index Number..........., a copy of which 47 may be examined at the office of the clerk, located at 48 ................., in room number......., grants me the right to assume 49 the name of ................... The city and state of my present 50 address are .........................; the month and year of my birth 51 are ................; the place of my birth is ....................; my 52 present name is ................................. 53 § 3. Section 64-a of the civil rights law, as amended by chapter 241 54 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows: 55 § 64-a. Exemption from publication requirements. 1. If the court shall 56 find that the publication of an applicant's change of name and/or genderA. 5969 3 1 would jeopardize such applicant's personal safety, based on totality of 2 the circumstances the provisions of sections sixty-three and sixty-four 3 of this article requiring publication shall be waived and shall be inap- 4 plicable. Provided, however, the court shall not deny such waiver 5 [soley] solely on the basis that the applicant lacks specific instances 6 of or a personal history of threat to personal safety. The court shall 7 order the records of such change of name proceeding to be sealed, to be 8 opened only by order of the court for good cause shown or at the request 9 of the applicant. 10 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, pending such a finding 11 in subdivision one of this section where an applicant seeks relief under 12 this section, the court shall immediately order the applicant's current 13 name, proposed new name and/or gender, residential and business 14 addresses, telephone numbers, and any other information contained in any 15 pleadings or papers submitted to the court to be safeguarded and sealed 16 in order to prevent their inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure 17 while the matter is pending. 18 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
