About this site
One place for what a trans person needs to change their legal name, update the gender marker on their documents, and find gender-affirming care, for every US state, DC, and the territories.
How to read a page
Your name and your gender marker are separate questions. On almost every document you can update your name after a legal name change, even where the gender marker cannot be changed. So every document page answers each question on its own.
- Update your name
- YesAfter your legal name change
- Gender markerThe sex or gender field (M, F, or X) printed on an ID document or stored in an agency's record.
- NoCannot be changed right now
What each answer means
| On a document | What it means | On care pages |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | You can do it today. The page says what you need to bring. | Allowed Allowed by state law. |
| Limited | Possible only with extra proof or in narrow cases, such as a doctor’s letter, proof of surgery, or a court order. | Limited Allowed with limits, such as age or waiting rules. |
| No | Not possible right now. | Banned Banned by state law. |
| In court | A court case is changing the rule. Read the page’s court notice for what applies today. | In court A court case is changing the rule. |
| Unclear | The agency has not written a policy, or applies it inconsistently. Call ahead. | Unclear The law is unclear or untested. |
Every answer pairs an icon with a word, so it never depends on color alone.
How we keep this current
- Primary sources firstEvery fee, form, and rule links to the court, agency, or law it comes from. Guides from advocacy groups are used to cross-check, not as the source.
- Drafts are labeledPages marked as drafts were written with AI from those official sources and have not yet been checked line by line by a person. A page becomes verified only after a reviewer opens every source and confirms each claim.
- Watched every weekSoftware checks the official pages we cite every week, and federal pages every day. When one changes in a way that could matter, the affected page shows "Change detected, under review" until a person updates it.
- DatedEvery page shows when it was last checked. After 90 days without a re-check it says so.
This site is not a law firm or a medical provider, and nothing here is legal or medical advice. If something is wrong or out of date, tell us with the link at the bottom of every page.
Help paying for it
Court fees can usually be waived. If you receive public benefits or have a low income, most courts let you skip the filing fee. Each state’s name change guide explains how, in its costs section.
These national organizations help with the rest: document fees, hormones, surgery, and legal help.
Point of Pride
National nonprofit that pays for gender-affirming care for trans people who cannot afford it. Programs: the HRT Access Fund (18 months of free hormone therapy through partner telehealth providers Plume, FOLX, QueerMed, QueerDoc, TrueU, Spectrum, and Outpatient Family Medicine Transformed; applications open each May), the Annual Trans Surgery Fund (formerly the Jim Collins Foundation; applications November 1 to 30), the Electrolysis Support Fund, the Thrive Fund (wigs, prosthetics, fertility preservation, voice training), and free chest binders and femme shapewear by waitlist.
2026 HRT Access Fund cycle (May 1 to 31) is closed; 153 people were funded. Next expected May 2027. Trans Surgery Fund applications open November 1 to 30, 2026 (very competitive: 28 of 1,588 applicants funded in 2026). Binder and shapewear programs are first-come, first-served with no deadline. Eligibility for funds: 18 or older, trans or nonbinary, financial need, living where a partner provider is licensed.
Genderbands
Volunteer-run nonprofit giving small grants to trans people for surgery and for "social transition" costs, including hormone therapy, electrolysis, clothing, name change fees, and travel. Open to people 18 and older by the treatment date in the US, US territories, Canada, and Mexico.
Surgery grant applications open each year October 1 to November 30. Check the site for social transition grant windows.
Trans Lifeline
Peer-support and crisis hotline run by and for trans people (877-565-8860, English and Spanish), with no nonconsensual active rescue. Its microgrant program, which historically paid name change and ID document fees, now moves money through trans-led regional partner organizations rather than individual applications.
Hotline is active. Microgrants: no individual application is open. In 2025 the program distributed $100,000 through five regional partners; it plans $150,000 in 2026 prioritizing Black, Brown, and Indigenous trans people in the South and rural areas. Sign up on the microgrants page to hear when a channel opens.
Transgender Law Center
National trans-led legal organization based in Oakland. Runs a free legal information helpdesk (510-587-9696 in English, 415-296-2029 in Spanish, and a collect line at 510-380-8229 for people who are incarcerated or detained), an online intake form, and publishes the "ID Please" guide to changing California and federal identity documents.
Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE)
National organization formed by the 2024 merger of the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund. Runs the ID Documents Center (state-by-state guides), the Name Change Project (pro bono attorneys in some metros), the Trans Legal Services Network directory, and the Trans Health Project (insurance appeals).
Namesake
Free, open-source web tool that fills out legal name and gender marker change paperwork with step-by-step guidance. Full support for Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with more states in progress.
More about this site
Who made this, and whyStarted by someone who went through the process.
It was started by someone who went through the process and kept running into scattered, outdated, or contradictory information. Rules change often, especially since 2025, and they change differently in every state.