News: Birth certificates now ask the mother if she is a male or a female

Look what the world has become?

Now it's just New York asking, soon it will be all the states in the US of A!!!

Most expectant mother's would laugh if someone were to ask them if they were a man or a woman because the answer may seem obvious. However, one simple question on a health questionnaire has the power to change the way society defines motherhood as a whole.

A New York City Health Department form for parents requesting birth certificates now asks new mothers if they identify as male or female.

The change in form is aimed at transgender women who may identify as male but still are able to give birth because of their female anatomy.

The form also asks the father what gender he identifies as but there is no 'giving birth' notation on the father's copy.

Along with the gender question are standard questions such as name, age and social security number putting gender choice in as banal a category as a standard questionnaire as it because more of a social norm.

The New York Post reports that while the question over 'sex' may seem shocking to some parents, it was created a few years ago as soon as same sex marriages became legal.

Before the change on the form was made, married gay couples had to go to a courtroom to secure their name on birth certificates, something that often blocked their parental rights.

In 2008 the then Governor David Patterson changed the form everywhere in New York state except New York City who reviewed their policy and made their own change in 2009.

'To be clear, it is possible for a person who has given birth to a child to identify as male,' said Susan Sommer, a lawyer for an advocacy group for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgenders.

'A form that is respectful and doesn’t make assumptions about sex or gender of people parenting children is fine to me,' Sommer said.

Same-sex couples are encourages to adopt because it grants them even more legal protection.

The birth-certificate change is especially helpful in clarifying parental rights in a hospital nursery or while helping their kids apply to school.