Working for basic rights for transgender and transsexual people to be open, honest, and safe at home, at work, and in the community.
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New York State
NEW YORK STATE Statute: NY Comp Codes R & Regs 10, 35.2 (2004)
New York State will change both name and sex, and will issue a new birth certificate.
New York requires more documentation than most states. You must first complete an application which can be obtained from the following address:
State of New York
Department of Health, Vital Records Section
Corning Tower
Empire State Plaza
Albany, NY 12237
Return the completed application, with fees as indicated on the application, and the following documents (all original or certified copy):
a.) the court order for name change, bearing the court seal, certified by the clerk of the court. Certified proof of publication is also required. The court order must include original name, date and place of birth.
b.) The letter from your SRS surgeon, specifying date, place, and type of procedure
c.) The actual OPERATIVE REPORT from your SRS surgeon
d.) A letter from your primary therapist documenting true transsexualism or inappropriate sexual identification.
e.) A letter from your endocrinologist or other medical physician concerning hormonal, chromosomal or endocrinological information.
Once these documents are received, a medical review will be performed and your new certificate Issued. Processing takes approximately three months. One certified copy will be provided following the amendment; any additional copies are $15.00 each.
As of 2002:
New York State has two different forms of birth certificate:
1.) a regular certificate of birth that contains your name, sex, date of birth , time of birth, count/city/town of birth, parent’s names, ages and social security numbers, mother’s maiden name and address at the date of birth, whether this was a twin birth, etc.
2.) a much shorter certification of birth that the Department of vital Statistics internally calls the short form, which only contains your name, sex, county/city/town of birth, and date of birth.
The short form isn’t mentioned anywhere in the paperwork, but is available by simply asking for the short form (the cost is the same) when ordering. The short form carries an impressed seal and serves as a legally valid birth certificate just as well as the long form.
The New York State short form can be very useful in cases where both first and last name were legally changed, because it eliminates the incongruity of the child on the certificate having a different last name than the parents. Quite a few postops face this problem, which causes unwanted outings if they ever need to us a regular birth certificate.
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