Andrea and Milo Ronquillo stand outside the Civic Center Courthouse in San Francisco on Feb. 26, 2025. They attended a workshop hosted by Alexis Levy about changing the name and gender marker on official government documents. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
Updated 2:35 p.m., Friday
Mere hours after his Jan. 20 inauguration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order stating that the federal government would recognize only two sexes, male and female. As a result, the State Department immediately eliminated the “X” gender as an option and suspended its previous policy that permitted transgender, intersex and nonbinary people to update the sex field on their passports.
A 24-year-old trans man told NPR that after filing paperwork to change his gender marker to male on his passport before Trump’s inauguration, he received a passport marking him as female. Euphoria actor Hunter Schafer detailed on TikTok how her new passport lists her as male, despite having female on her government documents since she was a teenager.
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“I’m just sort of scared of the way this stuff slowly gets implemented,” Schafer said in her social post, explaining her concerns about possibly being forced to out herself in front of a border patrol agent.
“We are never going to stop existing. I’m never going to stop being trans,” Schafer said. “A letter and a passport can’t change that.”
“People saw the writing on the wall,” said Levy, who has been hosting free gender marker and name change clinics with other LGBTQ+ organizations, including the Oakland LGBTQ Center. “The whole process can be really daunting,” they said.
But what does changing your name or gender marker on official government documents now entail? KQED spoke to Levy about what trans, intersex and nonbinary people can expect during the lengthy process.
Attorney Alexis Levy poses for a portrait outside of the Civic Center Courthouse in San Francisco on Feb. 26, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
Which documents can I change my name and/or gender markers on?
There is no one universal application where you can change your name or gender marker for all of your documents and changing one does not prompt another document to change. You have to do it “manually 100% of the time,” Levy said.
Levy said the four major documents people have historically wanted to change to reflect an update to their name or gender identity are:
Federal documents are currently subject to Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order stating that the federal government will now only recognize two sexes, male and female. Name changes are still possible on federal documents, but gender marker changes or applications to use “X” are not.
California, along with several other states, still allows people to change their gender marker or use “X” on state-issued documents like their birth certificate or driver’s license.
Other documentation or information that a person might update to reflect a new name or correct gender marker could potentially include: green cards, visas, foreign passports, citizenship certificates, health insurance, insurance and information around banking and credit cards. And name changes especially don’t have to be confined to government documents, Levy said.
“Anywhere where your name is attached to it is somewhere where eventually you’re going to have to update it,” said Levy, who went through the name change process themself last summer.
These updates could include mail, magazine subscriptions or their identity at a club or nonprofit.
How can I legally have a change of name and/or gender identity recognized?
To update a lot of your major documentation to reflect a new name and/or correct gender marker, you’ll need to go to your local county court and obtain a court order.
In California, you can ask for the court to recognize:
Some local courts will ask for their own additional forms to file, which you can check with your court’s clerk. Levy notes that some counties may ask for more biographical information for background-checking purposes, including height, weight and place of birth.
Are there any documents I can change without a court order?
Levy said you could change your gender marker on California documents — such as birth certificates and driver’s license/IDs — without a court order, although you’ll still be asked for some “specific supporting documentation.” Name change recognition, however, almost always needs a court order.
Some people may still consider obtaining the court order regardless of having their gender marker changed, even if it’s possible to do so in California without the order, Levy said. That includes people born in another state or country that does require a court order to make such a change. Californians may also consider obtaining the court order as a kind of insurance against potential future changes in federal policy regarding self-selection on gender markers, Levy said, since the Constitution mandates that the federal government. as well as other states must respect a state court order.
The bureaucratic process of updating a birth certificate without a court order can also be intricate and specific, according to Levy. And since any administrative mistakes on the applicant’s part can lead to long delays, they recommend you consult a legal expert if you choose to go this route.
Do I need permission for a physician to change my name or gender marker?
No. After a 2018 law, California residents do not need a physician’s letter for a name and gender change petition.
Once I’ve obtained my court order recognizing my name and/or gender identity change, how can I start updating my documents?
The card does not list a person’s sex or gender marker, but the agency said it “maintains information in its computer records on everyone who has a Social Security number, including name, date of birth, and sex.”
The California Department of Motor Vehicles — as well as the State Department, banks, insurance companies, credit card companies and more — often use the Social Security database to cross-reference and confirm people’s identities. Changing a name with the Social Security Administration is almost always a prerequisite before updating other government IDs (except birth certificates) and insurance, Levy said.
Lambda Legal, an organization serving LGBTQ+ people, notes that as of Jan. 31 the Trump administration has directed the Social Security Administration to “stop processing gender marker updates” associated with their records.
Advocates for Trans Equality, a trans advocacy group, has noted that Social Security benefits are not dependent on sex. However, “when applying for Medicare, Medicaid, or Obamacare health insurance through the marketplace, use the sex that matches Social Security,” the group said.
You can update your name on your passport through the U.S. Department of State. Federal documents are currently subject to Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order, so name changes are still possible on federal documents, but gender marker changes or applications to use “X” are not.
How long would changing my name or gender marker take?
According to the state, the decision period in which a judge signs the name change and gender recognition order is six weeks. But in many cases, this can vary, Levy said, and the process can be delayed even longer if there are mistakes in your paperwork.
And once the court order is approved, “each of those individual documents takes different periods of time,” Levy said. “So California birth certificates take about four months. … Usually [with] Social Security, you do that, and you get a new card in the mail within two weeks.”
How much money will changing my name and/or gender markers cost?
Name and gender marker changes can be a pricey process, with just some of the costs including:
Andrea and Milo Ronquillo sit with attorney Alexis Levy (right) near the Civic Center Courthouse in San Francisco on Feb. 26, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
What is happening on the federal level?
Several lawsuits have already been filed in response to Trump’s many executive orders, including one from the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of transgender, intersex and nonbinary people targeting the president’s executive order declaring that the federal government will only recognize two sexes, male and female. And for legal experts in the field, it has become “exceedingly difficult” to keep up with the often contradictory new guidelines “even as an attorney who works extensively in this space,” Levy said.
“The legal situation has been so chaotic and changing so rapidly,” they said.
As of right now, non-expired federal documents like passports with the correct name and gender markers — like “X” for gender-nonconforming Americans — are still valid.
So what should trans, intersex and nonbinary Americans do right now when it comes to federal documentation? Lambda Legal, which has a regularly updated page with guidance for people who wish to change their ID and documents, first and foremost urges people to seek legal advice about their individual situation.
Lambda Legal also asks LGBTQ+ people to consider holding off on applying for a new passport, renewing or changing a gender marker, or submitting any gender marker update request to the Social Security Administration. However, Levy said that many in the community have mistakenly read the guidance as saying not to apply to change your name on these documents.
“Official guidance right now with the passport administration under the Department of State is that names are still to be updated on passports and Social Security,” they said.
“There is so much fear. There is so much panic,” Levy, who urged people to share only verified information on social media or with others to help combat the spread of misinformation, said. “Unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation, even in trans spaces, because people don’t know what information is valid and what information isn’t valid.
“Three weeks from now, all of this information might be wrong. All I can do is [provide] the most up-to-date and accurate information as of right now.”
Where can trans folks find support and resources around documentation changes?
