He should have known he was going down a dangerous path doing what he did, but it was bound to happen somewhere. Someone has to die on this hill. Now let's see if the courts are going to stick to the letter of the law or succumb to culture war pressures like so many other institutions have done
As far as I know you can't change your gender without going through an administrative process at the government, which at least means changing your identity card.
I don't know about U.S., but in my country there's an administrative team that has to approve gender change (operations are not required by law).