Well, it seems like you do have an opportunity to intervene here by changing your birth certificate. So you could challenge the system with a pretty solid basis and possibly get them to roll back a rule that's problematic, or at least establish some precedent for others to challenge it. Letting California win here and otherwise keeping the status quo to avoid giving tacit approval seems needlessly self-sacrificing. Give tacit approval and explicit disapproval — get things changed with Mass., and send them letters saying that they shouldn't require the proof they're requiring. Call California on their bullshit about how obviously you can be expected to prove you're female despite the evidence to the contrary. That has to stop.