Montana Supreme Court Allows Trans People to Have IDs Matching ‘Gender Identity'

The Montana Supreme Court struck a blow to biological reality by allowing Montanans who claim to be transgender amend birth certificates and change driver’s licenses to match their self-proclaimed “gender identity.” 

The state’s high court ruled 5-2 on Tuesday to uphold a lower court’s preliminary injunction of a 2022 policy that mandates Montanans have birth certificates and IDs that match their biological sex. The court ruled that the policy likely goes against the state constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. 

“Transgender discrimination is, by its very nature, sex discrimination,” the court claimed in its opinion, ultimately rejecting biological reality.

Two justices, Jim Rice and Cory J. Swanson, dissented, with Rice writing that the court is forcing the state to issue “falsified legal documents.”

“The Court rejects what the United States Supreme Court and other courts in the country have recognized: one’s gender identity choice does not constitute a protected class that establishes a basis for a sex discrimination claim,” Rice wrote. 

The case, Kalarchik v. State of Montana, is brought by the ACLU of Montana on behalf two men who identify as women.

“Today’s ruling is an important victory for transgender people across the state of Montana, and perhaps even a glimmer of relief to transgender people across the country who are enduring a relentless effort to strip away their rights at nearly every level of government,” said Malita Picasso, Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “We will not stop fighting for transgender Montanans.”

A spokesperson for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen told a local news outlet that “requiring the state to issue false documents simply doesn’t change the reality that men cannot become women, and women cannot become men.”

“It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that once again the majority of the Montana Supreme Court chose to advance the agendas of their woke political allies rather than evaluate the case on its facts. We should expect this out of California or Colorado, but not Montana,” the spokesperson continued. 

The case heads back to lower courts for further deliberation. 

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.