PART 1: Double Incision Mastectomy with Nipple Grafts by Dr. Cori Agarwal Surgery Photos (EXTREMELY GRAPHIC)

benzyn asked: heya!! i'm Benzin. your blog was recommended to me by another trans boy living in Utah, and he told me you had a lot of information about changing your gender marker legally here in the beehive state, so I figured i would ask you about it (hopefully it's not too much trouble!). what kind of stuff do i need to do in order to become (legally) a male? i have no idea where to start, i can't find information about it anywhere. also i think i've definitely met you before in person. thanks so much for anything you can tell me!

Hi to you, also! I had my name and gender legally changed May 2010, so requirements may be different presently. I was also completely at a loss about where to start, but through a combination of blundering around and word-of-mouth, found some things that helped. I wrote a blog post about my trip to the court house that may help also.

Essentially, the most helpful thing for me was the “Steps to Filing an Adult Name Change Case" on the Utah Courts website.

The VERY FIRST step was to get certification that my name was not listed on Utah’s Sex Offender Registry (how to do this is on their site, linked above). This took about 2 weeks.

Once that was done, I brought a bundle o’ forms (most of which can be downloaded here) I’d filled out to the court to file my case and then attended a hearing. It sounds like an uphill, insurmountable thing, but the whole process was a lot more painless than I’d anticipated.

I pretty much followed the standard steps for name change listed on the Utah Courts website. I filled out these four from their website:

• Cover Sheet for Civil Actions
• Request for Hearing
• Notice for Hearing on Petition for Name Change
• Order Changing Name

* I also had my fees waived (it’s $350’ish otherwise) because I was super-mega broke at the time. The forms to waive fees can be found here.

Since this also includes gender change, a few papers are different. I personally couldn’t find online, so a trans friend e-mailed them to me. I can e-mail you copies:

• Petition for Name and Gender Change. Attach the completed Sex Offender Registry form to this.
• Amend Birth Certificate form
• Motion to Seal Case
• Order Sealing Case

Hope this helps and demystifies the process a bit!