Love v. Johnson

Love v. Johnson, 146 F. Supp. 3d 848, was a 2015 case in front of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The case involved a state department's policy prohibiting transgender persons from changing the gender on their licenses unless they could provide an amended birth certificate showing their gender.

Facts

Plaintiffs were six transgender persons whose gender identity did not conform to the gender assigned at birth. In 2011, the Michigan Secretary of State implemented a new policy for changing one's gender on a state ID. The policy required that the "individual must provide a certified birth certificate showing the sex of the applicant." Plaintiffs maintained that this policy was onerous and stood in contrast with federal decisions and decisions by numerous states that eased restrictions on changing one's gender on identification documents.

Result

On November 16, 2015, defendant's Motion to Dismiss was denied by the District Court. In her decision denying the motion, U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds held that "plaintiffs have raised a cognizable privacy claim under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution."