Alabama
- ID documents
- Restrictive
- Care
- Restrictive
- Shield lawA state law that protects patients and providers of gender-affirming care from investigations, subpoenas, or extradition attempts by states that ban that care.
- No
Alabama is a restrictive state for trans people.
More about Alabama
You can change your name in probate court with a short petition and no publication, but changing the sex on an Alabama birth certificate or driver's license requires proof of gender-affirming surgery, and a 2025 law (SB 79) defines sex in state law as sex "observed or clinically verified at birth." Hormones, puberty blockers, and surgery are banned for anyone under 19 (Alabama's age of majority). Adults can get care, and there is no shield law.
This state’s pages are drafts written from official sources and not yet checked by a person. What this means
Your documents, in order
Most people go in this order, because each office checks the one before it. On every document, updating your name and changing your gender marker are separate questions with separate answers.
- Legal name changeState court
- Name
- YesNo newspaper notice, hearing sometimes
- Social SecurityFederal, same in every state
- Name
- YesAfter your legal name change
- Gender marker
- NoCannot be changed right now
- Driver's license / state IDAlabama DMV
- Name
- YesAfter your legal name change
- Gender marker
- LimitedM or F with proof of surgery
- US passportFederal, same in every state
- Name
- YesAfter your legal name change
- Gender marker
- NoCannot be changed right now
- Birth certificateOnly if born in Alabama
- Name
- YesAfter your legal name change
- Gender marker
- LimitedM or F with proof of surgery
Born somewhere other than Alabama? Your birth certificate follows the state where you were born. Choose your birth state
Gender-affirming care
- Adults
- Allowed
- Under 18
- Banned
Local help
Statewide organizations
Legal Services Alabama[5]
Statewide free civil legal aid for low-income Alabamians, with offices in Anniston/Gadsden, Birmingham, Dothan, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Selma, and Tuscaloosa. Apply online or call 866-456-4995.
Magic City Acceptance Center (MCAC)[6]
Birmingham LGBTQ+ center (a program of Birmingham AIDS Outreach) with youth programs for ages 13 to 20, adult programs for 21 and older, free support groups, case management, and shower and laundry services. Reports reaching people in 54 Alabama counties.
3130 3rd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35233Alabama Transgender Rights Action Coalition (ALTRAC)[7]
Statewide trans advocacy coalition that tracks anti-trans bills in the Alabama Legislature and explains what passed each session. Email info@altrac.works.
Trans Lifeline[8]
Peer-support hotline run by and for trans people, 877-565-8860.
877-565-8860Languages: English, Español
Sources for this page (8)
Sources
8 sources. Numbers in the text, like [1], point here.
- Alabama equality profile
“Driver's license gender marker and birth certificate gender marker scored as negative law; youth medical care ban; no shield law.”
- SB 79 (2025), Act 2025-3, sex-based terms defined
“SEX. When the term is used to classify or describe a natural person, the state of being male or female as observed or clinically verified at birth.”
- Ala. Code 26-26-4, Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act
“A violation of this section is a Class C felony.”
- Corbitt v. Secretary of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, No. 21-10486 (11th Cir. Sept. 20, 2024)
“the individual must submit a letter from the physician who performed the reassignment procedure, or else an amended birth certificate reflecting a changed sex designation.”
- Legal Services Alabama
“The LSA law firm provides free, client-centered civil legal advocacy to low-income Alabamians”
- Magic City Acceptance Center
“Programming currently reaches individuals in 54 counties across alabama”
- Alabama Transgender Rights Action Coalition
- Trans Lifeline