It is extremely important that Virginia change the requirements for amending the gender marker on birth certificates. Requiring a person to have had surgery is unfair, as many transgender people don't want surgery, or can't have it for financial or other reasons. Having personal documents with the wrong gender marker on them makes life more difficult, dangerous, and invalidating for trans people; it should not be so difficult to amend documents to reflect a person's lived gender identity. As a parent of two transgender children in Virginia, I completely support this regulation change.