A Comox transgender girl and her family have made a formal request to remove gender from her birth certificate, which they hope would improve equality for transgender people across the province.

A lawyer for the Cunningham family said there is no precedent for such a request in B.C. However, if the request is granted it would open the door for others to do the same.

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If the Vital Statistics Agency, which issues birth certificates in B.C., denies the request, the family plans to file a human rights complaint, said barbara findlay, the Cunninghams’ lawyer.

“There is an apparently neutral rule that everyone’s birth certificate has either an M or an F, which has a disproportionately negative effect on a group of people who are historically disadvantaged — and that’s anyone whose gender doesn’t fit neatly into an M or F and stay that way,” findlay said.

For the Cunningham family, the birth certificate change would mean one less barrier to full acceptance of their transgender daughter by society.

Harriette, who is 10, says she always knew she was a girl, even if she was born with a boy’s body. She transitioned in September 2012 and took the name Harriette last December. She feels anxious every time she must present official identification, which still says she is a boy.

While she’d like to explain herself, she said she believes it’s her right not to have to.

Vital Statistics reviews requests like Harriette’s on a case-by-case basis, according to the agency. However, it acts on requests in accordance with electronic data management restrictions as well as the legislative framework of the Vital Statistics Act.

Current legislation requires that a person undergo sex-reassignment surgery before the gender listed on their birth certificate can be changed.

Last year, Ontario became the first Canadian jurisdiction to allow changes without surgery, after the province’s Human Rights Tribunal found the requirement to be “substantively discriminatory.”

From findlay’s perspective, a similar change in B.C. would be significant.

“Getting rid of gender markers on identity documents would be an enormous step toward equality for trans people,” she said. Race and class — in the form of “father’s occupation” — have already been removed from birth certificates.

“What people think is necessary to identify a child, when a child is born, changes with the times,” findlay said.

“The fact of the matter is we have way, way, way more accurate ways of identifying people now, including thumb prints and facial recognition technology and all the rest of it. Gender markers are really just the last thing that’s out of date.”

asmart@timescolonist.com