Pennsylvania
- ID documents
- Mixed
- Care
- Protective
- 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
Pennsylvania is a mixed state for ID documents and a generally protective one for care.
More about Pennsylvania
The driver's license is easy to update: you choose M, F, or X on PennDOT form DL-32 with no doctor's letter. A name change goes through the county Court of Common Pleas and still involves fingerprints, a hearing, judgment searches, and newspaper publication (the court can waive publication and seal the file if publishing would put you in danger). A birth certificate change to M or F needs a physician's letter but no surgery. Gender-affirming care is legal for adults and minors, Medical Assistance (Medicaid) has covered it since 2016, and state insurance guidance bars blanket exclusions. 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
- LimitedNewspaper notice sometimes, court hearing required
- Social SecurityFederal, same in every state
- Name
- YesAfter your legal name change
- Gender marker
- NoCannot be changed right now
- Driver's license / state IDPennsylvania DMV
- Name
- YesAfter your legal name change
- Gender marker
- YesM, F, or X with your own signed form
- US passportFederal, same in every state
- Name
- YesAfter your legal name change
- Gender marker
- NoCannot be changed right now
- Birth certificateOnly if born in Pennsylvania
- Name
- Limited
- Gender marker
- LimitedM or F with a letter from a doctor
Born somewhere other than Pennsylvania? Your birth certificate follows the state where you were born. Choose your birth state
Gender-affirming care
- Adults
- Allowed
- Under 18
- Allowed
Local help
Statewide organizations
Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, Identity Documents[5]
Free help for low-income Philadelphians getting ID: applying for birth certificates, Social Security cards, and PennDOT IDs, advocacy with those agencies, and referrals for legal name changes. Phone intake 215-981-3700 (Mondays and Wednesdays 9 am to noon); walk-in at 1410 W. Erie Ave on Tuesdays and Thursdays 9 am to noon.
215-981-37001410 W. Erie Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19140SisTers PGH, Name Change Project[6]
Pittsburgh trans-led organization that guides trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming Allegheny County residents through the name change process. Join the waiting list through their website.
412-297-0548213 Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222Trans Lifeline[7]
Peer-support hotline run by and for trans people, 877-565-8860.
Sources for this page (7)
Sources
7 sources. Numbers in the text, like [1], point here.
- Pennsylvania state profile
“"Shield" Laws Protecting Access to Transgender Health Care: 0/1”
- Gender Designation Options
“Does a doctor or social worker need to sign off on my request? No, they do not.”
- 54 Pa.C.S. Chapter 7, Judicial Change of Name
- Medical Assistance Bulletin 99-16-11, coverage of services related to gender transition (July 18, 2016)
“These categorical payment prohibitions in Pennsylvania's current MA regulations are inconsistent with the Federal Final Rule and will no longer be applied.”
- Identity Documents
- The Name Change Project
- Trans Lifeline