I had the opportunity to "refuse to state" at the birth of both of my children.
For our first child the Birth Certificate Lady asked what 'race' we were. I remember being uncomfortable (and ignorant), we just said 'white' & Hispanic. For our second child I was making a quick trip to the house to drop off Abuelita when my wife called me to let me know that the Birth Certificate Lady was asking her to sign the form which had the 'race' info copied from our first kid. My wife said the form has a "Hispanic" check box and a place to write in up to three races. I asked my wife to write in Indigenous Native American for one of her "races". She didn't feel comfortable with that. I wanted to see what the form looked like before I decided. I asked her to wait until I got back to the hospital.
When I arrived back, the Birth Certificate Lady had already persuaded my wife to sign the form (as is) because they were (supposedly) running up against some deadline. I went to her office and asked to change it and she said I would have to file a petition. What do you think? Should I file a petition to change my 'race' on my children's birth certificate to 'human' or 'refuse to state'?
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