California just made it easier to change your birth certificate and your name, the Transgender Law Center reports,
The first phase of the law, which went into effect January 1, made it easier for transgender people born in California to obtain an accurate birth certificate by removing the requirement that they present a court-ordered gender change in order to amend a gender marker on a birth certificate. Instead, they now have the option to just submit a form and a doctor’s letter directly to the state Department of Public Health along with a $23 fee.Read the article here.
Under the second part of the law, which becomes effective today, those seeking a name change to better match their gender identity are no longer required to publish the change in a local newspaper. Also effective today, those seeking to obtain a name change for purposes of gender transition will no longer be required to attend an in-person court hearing unless another person challenges the name change request. These new protections were created to improve the safety and privacy needs of transgender people seeking to obtain accurate and consistent identity documents.
