Come To Connecticut

For trans people who were not born in Connecticut or are not U.S. citizens can get their names changed in Connecticut* unlike many conservative states.

Transgender Man Can’t Challenge Indiana’s Name-Change Policy
Courthouse News Service
By Lorraine Bailey
March 2, 2018

CHICAGO (CN) – A divided Seventh Circuit ruled Friday that the 11th Amendment shields Indiana officials from a transgender immigrant’s challenge to the state’s citizenship requirements for a legal name change.

Suing under a pseudonym, John Doe challenged a 2010 Indiana law requiring any Indiana resident seeking a name change to provide proof of U.S. citizenship.

A 32-year-old Mexican national, Doe says he has lived in the United States since he was 5 years old. He got married in 2014 to a U.S. citizen and won asylum in the U.S. because of the persecution he might face in Mexico for being transgender.
The grounds for turning down his requests for the federal bench to order his name change is,
However, a federal judge ruled that the 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – which deals with states’ sovereign immunity – bars Doe’s lawsuit, and the Seventh Circuit affirmed Friday.

So a Google search of Connecticut law didn’t find any requirement for the person to be a U.S. citizen.

Furthermore the Connecticut birth certificate law allows the courts to issue an order to other states or countries to change their birth certificate.

(a) In the case of a person who is a resident of this state and was born in another state or in a foreign jurisdiction, the probate courts in this state shall have jurisdiction to issue a decree of a change of sex [my emphasis]. Such person may apply to the probate court for the district in which such person resides for a decree that such person's gender is different from the sex designated on such person's original birth certificate and that such birth certificate be amended to reflect the change in gender. The application to the probate court shall be accompanied by the following documents: (1) A written statement from the applicant, signed under penalty of law, that the applicant's gender differs from the sex designated on the original birth certificate; and (2) a notarized affidavit by a physician licensed pursuant to chapter 370 or holding a current license in good standing in another state, an advanced practice registered nurse licensed pursuant to chapter 378 or holding a current license in good standing in another state, or a psychologist licensed pursuant to chapter 383 or holding a current license in good standing in another state, stating that the applicant has undergone surgical, hormonal or other treatment clinically appropriate for the applicant for the purpose of gender transition. Upon issuance, such probate court decree shall be transmitted to the registration authority of such person's place of birth.  

Many trans people do not realize this provision of the Connecticut. I once had a phone call from a New York lawyer asking how a client who was born in another country could get her birth certificate changed so that he could legally be married in the U.S., when I told him about the Connecticut law he didn’t believe me. I think he had egg on his face when the lawyer found out a non-lawyer knew more about the Connecticut law than he did.

The thing is the Connecticut legislature gave us a powerful weapon to get our documents changed here in Connecticut.

A friend who was born in California thought she would have to travel there to have her California birth certificate changed but she could handle everything from here.

*Do not take my word for it, I am not a lawyer so you should contact a lawyer to get a legal opinion.