Puerto Rico Faces Federal Lawsuit Over Transgender Rights

An LGBT rights group has filed a federal lawsuit demanding that Puerto Rico let transgender people correct the gender listed on their birth certificates.

Lambda Legal says the territory's birth certificate policy is at odds with a law that allows people to change the gender indicated on drivers' licenses. It also says that violates the right to free speech under the First Amendment.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday, the same day that a group of transgender people interrupted a legislative hearing in Puerto Rico to protest a bill that would eliminate the rights of transgender employees of Puerto Rico's Senate to choose the bathrooms and clothes according to the gender with which they identify.