TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A transgender activist is suing Kansas over its refusal to update her gender on her birth certificate.

Topeka resident Stephanie Mott filed the lawsuit against the Kansas Department of Health and Environment last week.

The Wichita Eagle says KDHE denied Mott’s request to amend her birth certificate to list her gender as female.

The Transgender Law Center says the Kansas agency has made that type of change to birth certificates in the past, but stopped doing so shortly after Governor Sam Brownback took office in 2012.

A KDHE spokeswoman says the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

Mott ran unsuccessfully for a vacant seat in the Legislature last year. She says it’s important that her birth certificate reflects her authentic self.