Advocating for Trans Rights: Gender Justice League Hosts Clinics to Help Trans People Change Names and Gender Markers on Legal Documents

On a drizzly Sunday afternoon in February, the meeting room at the Columbia City library branch was bustling with chatter and activity as volunteers with backgrounds as lawyers, paralegals, notaries, case workers and social workers helped around 100 people who sought guidance about changing their name or gender marker on legal documents. Hosted by the Gender Justice League (GJL), the Feb. 23 name and gender-marker change clinic was a response to new threats to trans rights, specifically executive orders that denied gender-marker changes on renewed passport applications. 

GJL has at least two more upcoming clinics slated for the year, including one in Burien. 

"It feels like a legal paperwork party," said Roini Wadhwani, a volunteer at the welcoming table. Her sparkly eyeshadow popped above her mask. "I put my friendly eyeshadow on." 

Changing one's name and gender marker on legal documents requires a court order. From there, people can make updates with the Social Security Administration and the Department of Licensing, request an amended birth certificate, and apply for a new or updated passport. The whole process can be overwhelming, complex, and costly.

At the GJL clinic, 19 volunteers helped attendees with notary services, county name change forms, and questions about passports. A photographer took passport photos on the spot. Other volunteers flitted around the room, passing out legal forms. In addition to those who signed on for time slots, an estimated five to 10 people per hour took advantage of walk-in assistance.

"Legal paperwork is terrifying when you have to do it for yourself," said Emma Thorn King, a clinic volunteer and board member of STANCE, Seattle Trans and Nonbinary Choral Ensemble. "I find it fun to do with other people." Helping people in a supportive environment is "not like [at] the court, where they have a million other people to help, and you don't necessarily want to out yourself in front of everyone. Here, it's the community coming together, and you're like, okay, cool. We all have our pronouns out. Most of us are trans or queer, or you know that we're allies."

For Trans People, Life in America Changed Overnight

The new administration started restricting the rights of trans people on Trump's first day in office through executive orders that led to scrubbing trans history and resources from federal websites, enacting a ban on trans people in the military, moving incarcerated trans women in federal prisons into men's prisons, and threatening to withhold federal funding from schools where trans athletes play sports. So far, there have been at least 10 lawsuits against Trump's anti-trans policies, which have blocked four of those policies.

The wave of anti-trans legislation is just as restrictive, or even more so, in some red states. There is a proposed bill in Texas, for example, that would charge trans people with "gender identity fraud," which could come with felony jail time.

"It's not really about trans people so much," said GJL Executive Director Danni Askini, a policy expert and organizer with decades of activist experience. "It's about [the Trump administration] flexing their fascist muscle and proving that they can just damage our community as much as they want to. … They don't actually care about trans people. … It's just about [Trump] having power and showing that he can do something. He can crush a disfavored population. And that's it. That's all it's about. It's about him showing that he has power. Our job is to stand up ourselves and say, 'Fuck you. You're not a king.'" 

In Washington State, Trans people have protections like the Shield Law and SB 5028, which protects people seeking gender-affirming care or reproductive health services from prosecution from other states, and allows for sealed name changes, respectively. While Washington residents can change their names and gender markers on state documents, there's currently no way to update gender markers on a passport. 

Despite the hostile realities of life for trans people under the Trump administration, the feeling at the clinic was hopeful, full of connection and joy.

GJL got the word out about the February name and gender-marker change clinic a few weeks in advance on social media, so attendees could sign up for a time slot. Once organizers knew the types of documents attendees wanted to amend, organizers could pair attendees with the appropriate volunteer. GJL also offers financial help for King County name changes (fees run just over $300 for an individual name change).

UTOPIA (United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance) Washington also tabled. UTOPIA is a Kent-based organization, led by queer and trans People of Color, that provides a wide range of services for LGBTQIA+ Pacific Islander communities. 

"We find that people in our community have a hard time navigating through the name change position itself," said UTOPIA Community Services Coordinator Trina Tuimaleali'ifano, who sometimes walks people through the name change process in court. "[We] pick them up and make sure that they're on time for their court hearing, just telling them where to go. … And after the name change has been successfully done and approved, we help them update their [other] documents, letting them know which documents to do first." 

While documents in Washington State can be changed, any passport renewal applications with gender-marker change requests are automatically issued with the gender already within their system. 

"They are issuing zero nonbinary ["X"] gender markers. Can't get one," Askini said. "If they have any evidence of your sex assigned at birth, they will issue the passport only in that sex. So if you're in the driver license database that they have access to, and you changed [your gender on a] driver's license 10 years ago … they can still see it, and they will still revert [your passport renewal] back. The policy has been incredibly intrusive and aggressive. There's a lot of privacy concerns, in my humble opinion, about what databases they're accessing to find trans people."

The State Department's denial of gender-marker changes on passports has percolated throughout other federal agencies, like the Social Security Administration and Veterans Affairs, and even impacted Medicare records, Askini said. 

But there may be some hope to come. 

On March 25, a Massachusetts federal judge heard from Justice Department officials in Orr v. Trump, a case that challenges Trump's anti-trans passport policy. Advocates hope for a quick injunction to the passport order, which could lead to a window of time for people to apply for a passport that matches their gender identity. "If there is an injunction issued, then I think people should immediately apply for their passport," Askini said, noting that Seattle has a passport office, and with proof of urgent international travel, that passport office will issue an expedited passport within seven days of an in-person appointment. 

"I don't know how long that window will be," Askini said. "It could be like, a four- or five-month window, but it will be short, between the injunction and the end of the trial, [because] once the injunction is in place, [the Trump administration is] going to appeal it."

In the meantime, volunteers with GJL are doing everything they can to help trans and nonbinary people get their documents in order — which will expedite updating passport documents if an injunction is issued — by scheduling future name and gender-marker change clinics and raising funds to cover costs for those who need it. 

For updates about future GJL name and gender-marker change clinics, follow its Instagram account at @GenderJusticeWA. For more info on local trans organizations to support, check out the Emerald's guide to Seattle Trans-Led Groups You Can Support Right Now. 

Editor's Note: The author volunteered at the GJL clinic in February.