For all of you fucking ding-dongs out there who are obsessing about people's birth names as opposed to their chosen names, and their gender assigned at birth as opposed to their actual gender... lemme let you in on a little secret:

1/

In a lot of states in the US, up until the 18th birthday of the child, parents can just file a piece of paper and have the kid's birth certificate amended under 'oops, there's an error.'

That includes having the gender changed, and no, you don't have to explain why.
2/

Ask me how I know this? (How do you know this, Spider?)

BECAUSE I FILED THAT PAPERWORK FOR MY DAUGHTER, BY HER REQUEST.

I know it works that way BECAUSE I DID IT.

Her birth certificate has been totally amended: first name, middle name, surname! Gender!
3/

The state in which my daughter was born recognizes her as my daughter, and her birth certificate reflects that, because we were able to change it for her before her 18th birthday, with a minimum of fuss.

This actually happens QUITE A BIT, with cis and trans kids alike.
4/

My wife knew someone whose birth certificate said 'Brain' on it, because his mom misspelled 'Brian.' I know more than one person whose birth certificates originally said 'Baby Boy' or 'Baby Girl' in place of a first name, because the parents hadn't settled on a first name yet.
5/

Sometimes, the surname is spelled wrong, or the wrong surname is used (dad's instead of mom's or vice versa). There are all kinds of reasons for parents to correct or amend birth certificates for kids, INCLUDING that those kids are trans and want their names changed.
6/

Nothing about a birth certificate is fixed or sacrosanct on the moment it is filed. It can be amended and changed, depending on where you live and how old you are when you (or your parents) fix it.
7/

Referring to someone's birth name as if it's some sort of immutable feature, as if cis ppl's birth names aren't changed on their birth certificates ALL THE FUCKING TIME, just makes you look like you REALLY don't know what you're talking about.

Birth certificates get changed. 8/

They get changed A LOT. It's not a big fucking deal. It took literally one piece of paper which both her dad and I signed, and which I Fed Exed to the processing center.

That's it. That's all it took. It wasn't a mystical process. It was boring and bureaucratic.
9/

And yes, I need to reiterate this: I did absolutely just file a piece of paper that said 'oops, this birth certificate is wrong! Turns out I had a daughter, not a son!' and the state in which my daughter was born said 'cool, you should know!' and changed it.
10/

tl;dr: names granted at birth are not some sort of mystical fucking thing that never change. Even if you set aside marriage or all the other reasons that cis people change their names through their lifetimes, LOTS OF PEOPLE have to amend their birth certificates...
11/

... due to typos, changes, or just, you know, their parents NOT FUCKING PICKING A NAME before the deadline by which the birth certificate needs to be filed.

You're just a transphobe, sweetie. ;)
12/12