I am considering this. In NJ all I need is a form filled out by my therapist or doctor.

Reasons:

(Main reason) I can come out and transition at work easier. Men's restrooms are disgusting. I loathe using them, and the only place I use them now is at work. Besides, I get looks and uncomfortable stares from strangers when I'm in there. Sure, I can use the women's restrooms if I tell HR that I'm ready to switch over gender presentation. But I don't want to have to be put in a spot if I have to confront the gender police. If I have F on my ID it will be easier.

It's only $11, so when I have to do it again for my name change I'm only out another $11. I can forego a couple days of starbucks for that.

Some women have my first name. It's more of a boy name but it's sorta like Madison (not my name), which is now a girl's name too. So I can get by with that for now.

It may be able to make insurance pay for my estradiol. I mean I can jump thru hoops and tell them I am trans and they have to cover it but with the female ID it is easier, I am taking HRT like any female would. I only pay $10 for it at walmart so it's not that big of a deal but money is money.

When applying for a court ordered name change, the public notices will say "her" and not "him." This is not such a big deal but it would be a nice touch.

I get to take a new photo for my ID which will match my current appearance. My current ID looks nothing like it. I get double takes all the time. I even got carded once when buying a bottle of wine and the clerk had to call the store manager.

I talked with my therapist about this and she seemed supportive of the idea.

What say you?

Also I cannot use any name but my legal name at work. Unfortunately they say it has to match my social security card. I know some employers are accommodating by allowing one to use their name before they get it legally changed but this policy I cannot get around.

My friend changed her gender marker without changing her name in Wisconsin. She's happy about the decision.

(Also a NJ resident here.) There shouldn't be any problem with changing gender without changing your name. They can be done separately. (I did mine at the same time and on my name change petition, the his/her was left blank and in the paper it said "his/her".) You should also change it on your social security and passport so everything match. Although changing your passport isn't cheap compared to your driver's license so unless your traveling out of the country I would wait on that. I lucked out in that I changed my name and gender on my NJ I.D. in the 23rd of June last year and it was set to expire on the 30th.

As a side note, when I did my NJ Driver's license change. They made a bigger deal out of my name change than my gender change. They were really nice about it (did mine in Wallington). They had to go to the supervisor about 4 times to make sure they were doing it right. They let me take about 8 photos till we all (wife, 2 DMV employees and myself) agreed it was decent. Plus you not suppose to smile and I was so happy to finally get it done I couldn't help it, LOL.

Thanks Sydney.

So my plan is all set, I will bring the form to my therapist or my dr at my next HRT appointment.

I'll file for a name change the day after I come back and also do the MVC change.

I'm also going full time at work when I return. I already told HR what I plan to do. I have a meeting with them next week to finalize.

The good thing is that I don't have real masculine guy name and there are girls with my name. So I can be <my old name> for a few months.

Above all this will give me some level of comfort because not being full time at work is driving me absolutely bonkers, and with summer here soon it is extremely difficult to hide.

While order may not matter legally (It doesn't in my state), some doctors may require a name change before they'll write the letter. The primary HRT doctor around here has a policy that she won't write a letter until you have a court order of name change in hand. Something to consider if you are just starting out.

Hope mine doesn't since I have no intention of changing my name. My first name is gender neutral and was actually more common with women of my generation. I'm not going to the trouble and expense to change a middle name I hardly ever use. I can claim, legitimately, that I was a surprise, late baby and my parents picked two names intending to swap them based upon gender. That will handily explain my masculine middle name. But then, I take my cue from Mary Poppins, "first off, I never explain anything."

Quote from: lisarenee on May 27, 2015, 03:52:46 PM
While order may not matter legally (It doesn't in my state), some doctors may require a name change before they'll write the letter. The primary HRT doctor around here has a policy that she won't write a letter until you have a court order of name change in hand. Something to consider if you are just starting out.

In NJ for driver license you need a form filled out by a therapist and my therapist has agreed to do it.

For passport and other docs I will get the doctor to write a letter. I'm sure it won't be an issue. I could in fact just keep my name, a lot of women have my name now actually. But I am changing it. I won't need a new passport after this summer until next year anyway, so I can take my time.

Ok so... I did it! The state of NJ now officially recognizes me as FEMALE. I did this mostly for bathroom protection. Just in case I get challenged and law enforcement gets involved I can show my ID. I've also been carded a lot lately, and it is embarrassing to show the old picture. NJMVC employees were pretty courteous to me, addressing me as ma'am and hon (gender less I suppose) but never sir.

As for my name well the way my first name and middle Inital are on my DL it looks like a girls name. I used to get teased about it as a child in fact. Going to file my court papers next month.

My DL pic isn't bad either.

My therapist signed the form for me.

I get a doctor's letter to do the rest of my docs (passport, naturalization cert, etc). That will be when I come back.

Congratulations.

Congrats iKate. Hugs
Mariah

Congratulations (again, since I texted congrats to you earlier). This day will be like another birthday for you 

Quote from: Sydney_NYC on June 13, 2015, 10:55:37 PM
Congratulations (again, since I texted congrats to you earlier). This day will be like another birthday for you 

Haha indeed it is.

Thank you

Truth be told I'm just happy I now have a picture to match that looks somewhat decent and genders female in face recognition sites. Being carded is no longer an uncomfortable experience.