Deborah Marie “Debby” Hartin (September 15, 1933 – March 15, 2005) was an American lecturer and activist.
[1] Her 1970 divorce following a gender transition made national headlines, and she went on to appear on numerous talk shows.
[4] Prior to transition, Hartin served in the United States Navy starting in 1953.
In 1971, Hartin brought suit against the Bureau of Records and Statistics within the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for refusing to update her sex designation on her birth certificate.
Under pressure to accommodate trans citizens, the Bureau had voted unanimously to omit a sex designation from the amended birth certificates of transsexual people.