A New Website Helping The Florida Transgender Community

For Florida residents, there is a now a free online service that walks individuals through the name and gender marker change process, from filing the name change petition all the way to obtaining a new birth certificate. Southern Legal Counsel and its partners have developed www.FloridaNameChange.org to assist Florida’s transgender community with this lengthy and often overwhelming process. The website not only informs individuals of the required forms at each stage, but also guides them through those forms by asking questions one at a time in layman’s terms and compiles those responses into a completed form that is sent to the individual’s email for them to print and file/submit.

Depending on an individual’s circumstances and needs, the website allows for someone to start the process from the very beginning, or to jump in at any stage (for example, if they’ve already gotten the name change order through the courts but now need help updating their Social Security card). The site adjusts itself depending on the needs of the individual: whether an adult or a minor is changing their name and/or gender marker, or whether the individual is changing both their name and gender marker or only one of them. Each stage also provides valuable information about the intricacies of navigating the judicial and administrative systems, such as how to dress for court or what documents to bring with you to the DMV. While this service was designed with the transgender community in mind, it is also a valuable resource for pro se litigants who are looking to change their name for any number of reasons.