Editor: Certificates of Live Birth provide six pieces of information about the newborn: name, sex, date, time, place, type (single, twins, etc.).
Currently, only four remain unquestionable: date, time, place and type.
Name can be changed, and sex assigned at birth also can be changed.
As a 75-year-old, I believe this to be hurtful and discriminatory, because date determines age. And like sex, age should be determined by how the individual feels, not by a date on a birth certificate.
If scientific data such as chromosomes are no longer determinants of sex/gender, why will the number of revolutions the earth takes around the sun determine age?
My birth date on a certificate may imply I am 75, but the image the mirror returns is that of a much younger individual, who feels like a 45-year-old.
Age is not a number. Age is the sum of genes, experiences, suffering and achievements, which give us a feeling of who we are. Age is a feeling. I should be able to request to have my year of birth changed to 1975. (I have no objection as to month, day or time.)
My case is not unique. There are millions of men and women who feel like me. They ski, play tennis and other sports, travel all over the world. And if single, are ready to start a new phase in their lives (or not). They are fulfilled with what and who they are.
Nobody has the right to question these feelings any more than nobody has the right to question the feelings of those who find themselves strangers in their own bodies.
M.S. Plaza, Arlington