Trans Resource Navigator

Vermont

ID documents
Protective
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.
Yes, protects care

Vermont is one of the most protective states for trans people.

More about Vermont

You can change the sex marker on your driver's license (M, F, or X) with no documentation and on a Vermont birth certificate (M, F, or X) with a notarized self-attestation. Name changes go through the probate court with a $150 fee, no newspaper publication, and a short hearing. State law requires Medicaid and state-regulated private plans to cover gender-affirming care, and shield laws passed in 2023 and expanded in 2025 protect patients and providers from other states' bans. Federal documents (passport, Social Security) are the exception: their sex fields are currently frozen nationwide.

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.

  1. Legal name changeState court
    Name
    YesNo newspaper notice, court hearing required
  2. Social SecurityFederal, same in every state
    Name
    YesAfter your legal name change
    Gender marker
    NoCannot be changed right now
  3. Driver's license / state IDVermont DMV
    Name
    YesAfter your legal name change
    Gender marker
    YesM, F, or X with your own signed form
  4. US passportFederal, same in every state
    Name
    YesAfter your legal name change
    Gender marker
    NoCannot be changed right now
  5. Birth certificateOnly if born in Vermont
    Name
    YesAfter your legal name change
    Gender marker
    YesM, F, or X with your own signed form

Born somewhere other than Vermont? Your birth certificate follows the state where you were born. Choose your birth state

Gender-affirming care

Adults
Allowed
Under 18
Allowed
Gender-affirming care is legal and protected for adults and minors in Vermont.Find clinics, health centers, telehealth, and ways to pay

Local help

Statewide organizations

Sources for this page (9)

Sources

9 sources. Numbers in the text, like [1], point here.

  1. H.89 (Act 14 of 2023), civil and criminal procedures concerning legally protected health care activityVermont General Assembly, Law. accessed
    “This act defines "legally protected health care activity" for purposes of Vermont law to include reproductive health care services and gender-affirming health care services and reaffirms that access to such services is a legal right in Vermont.”
  2. S.37 (Act 15 of 2023), access to legally protected health care activity and regulation of health care providersVermont General Assembly, Law. accessed
    “requires (in statute) that health insurance plans and Medicaid cover gender-affirming health care services”
  3. Act 20 of 2025 (S.28), access to certain legally protected health care services, act summaryVermont Office of Legislative Counsel, Law. accessed
    “This act creates reciprocity with other states that also safeguard access to reproductive health care and gender-affirming health care services”
  4. 18 V.S.A. § 5112, Issuance of new birth certificateVermont General Assembly, Law. accessed
    “the State shall adopt a simple process by which an individual may amend the marker on a birth certificate to reflect the individual's gender identity, including a third non-binary marker.”
  5. Name and Gender Marker Changes in VermontVTLawHelp.org (Vermont Legal Aid and Legal Services Vermont), Organization. accessed
  6. How we can helpVTLawHelp.org, Organization. accessed
    “Or, leave a message on our legal helpline at 1-800-889-2047”
  7. Vermont Office of the Health Care AdvocateVTLawHelp.org, Organization. accessed
    “Call 1-800-917-7787 to speak with a health care advocate”
  8. Health programsPride Center of Vermont, Organization. accessed
    “Pride Center of Vermont currently offers rapid HIV testing that is free and fast!”
  9. Trans LifelineOrganization. accessed