A Topeka transgender activist and her attorney decried a proposed change Thursday that would bar individuals from altering the gender on their Kansas birth certificates, saying the new regulation would be written in the blood of transgender teens.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is seeking a regulation that would require the gender on birth certificates to match the gender of the individual at birth. In the past, Kansas has allowed individuals to change the gender on the document.

If the regulation goes into effect, Kansas will join only a handful of states that don’t allow people to change the gender on their birth certificates. The regulation likely would prompt legal action by opponents.

The change would mean transgender people couldn’t change their birth certificate to match their current gender identity, even if they have identified as that gender for years.

Stephanie Mott, a local activist and transgender woman, argued during a public comment hearing Thursday the change would result in increased suicide among transgender teens. Affirming the identity of youth, by contrast, drives down rates of suicide, she said.

"If these regulations increase the likelihood that transgender youth will attempt suicide, and they do, why in God’s green earth would we do such a thing? Children will die, these regulations will be written in their blood," Mott said.

Mott filed a lawsuit against KDHE in February after the agency denied her request to change her birth certificate gender to female. Documents indicate the agency began pursuing the policy change in January and February of this year.

The proposed regulation comes at a time of increased attention nationwide over policies affecting transgender people. A North Carolina law barring transgender people from using the restroom of the gender they identify with has sparked a lengthy and ongoing backlash.

Legislation filed in Kansas this year to direct individuals to use the restrooms and locker rooms at colleges and schools that match their chromosomes generated pushback but didn’t advance through the Legislature.

No one testified in favor of the proposal during the KDHE hearing. Agency spokeswoman Cassie Sparks said only that the change will bring the policy into compliance with state law. If the proposed rule is adopted in its current form, it could go into effect within months.

"What this change does is it brings the existing regulations into compliance with Kansas law," Sparks said.

Sparks cited a 2002 Kansas Supreme Court decision that found a marriage between a man and a transsexual woman was invalid. The case was closely watched by advocacy groups for transsexuals and other transgender individuals, The Associated Press reported at the time of the decision.

At that time, same-sex marriages weren’t allowed in the state, and it would be more than a decade before the U.S. Supreme Court would rule same-sex marriage is guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Same-sex marriages began taking place in Kansas in late 2014 and the U.S. Supreme Court legalized it nationwide in June 2015. Sparks declined to comment on the effects the change would have on transgender individuals.

Sparks said she didn’t know who initiated the proposed change, but said regulations are changed all the time. Approached for comment, the governor’s office referred questions to KDHE.

Mott’s attorney, Pedro Irigonegaray, tore into Gov. Sam Brownback and his administration over the proposal. Transgender people need identification documents to match their gender identity to avoid confusion, embarrassment, discrimination and violence, he argued.

He signaled legal action will be brought if the regulation goes into effect.

"It’s time that we as Kansans stop being embarrassed by the bigoted policies of the current administration. It is an outrage that the current administration, by the stroke of a pen, took away equal protections under the law to gay, lesbian and transgender people," Irigonegaray said. "Willful ignorance is what’s motivating the administration. We must not tolerate bigotry’s brutality."

View a video of Mott addressing the issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAZ23Rw5KUQ.