For trans and nonbinary people: doctors, documents, housing and community
Where in New York to find a doctor who works with trans people, how to change your name and gender marker on documents, how City shelters work, and where to find community.
General questions about documents are in the "IDs and documents" guide.
According to Legal Services NYC (free legal help), New York State supports access to gender-affirming care for both adults and young people. QARAVAN does not provide legal services: for documents we refer you to those who can help.
Find a doctor who works with trans people
The best-known options: Callen-Lorde (an LGBTQ+ health center with fees by income), Pride Health Services at NYC Health + Hospitals, and the Adolescent Health Center at The Door for young people aged 19–24.
Ask about price and insurance before the first appointment
Callen-Lorde sees you whether or not you can pay and charges on a sliding fee scale. NYC Health + Hospitals serves all residents whatever their money and can help you get insurance. If you have no insurance, say so when you book.
Prepare documents for the first visit
At Callen-Lorde, bring photo ID (a driver's license, IDNYC or a passport) and your insurance card if you have one. Book online; the first visit is in person.
If you need a letter for surgery, ask about it early
Some surgeries and procedures need a letter of support from a licensed professional. At Brooklyn Community Pride Center a licensed clinical social worker gives such letters and counseling for free, by appointment. The Door writes these letters for its patients.
Work on documents when you are ready
You can change your name and gender marker in New York, but each document has its own rules. If you are filing immigration papers, talk to a lawyer first about what to put under "sex".
Find people and safe housing
The LGBTQ+ Center, Brooklyn Community Pride Center and Destination Tomorrow have groups for trans and nonbinary people. If you have nowhere to live, City shelters must place you by your gender.
Doctors and clinics for trans people
| What it offers | For whom and at what price | How to start | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Callen-Lorde | Hormone therapy, primary care, mental health care, care coordination, on-site pharmacies | Whether or not you can pay; fees on an income scale; many insurance plans accepted | Book online at callen-lorde.org/register |
| NYC Health + Hospitals, Pride Health Services | Primary care, hormone therapy, surgery referrals; puberty blockers at Elmhurst, Jacobi and Metropolitan; surgery at Elmhurst and Metropolitan (18 and older) | Whatever your language or status, with help getting insurance; without insurance, the City's NYC Care program (free or low-cost) | Choose one of eight sites at nychealthandhospitals.org or email lgbtq@nychhc.org |
| The Door, Adolescent Health Center | Hormone therapy, primary care, surgery letters, document updates, clothing | Ages 19–24, plus emancipated minors (teens living on their own, no longer under parental custody) and homeless youth with documentation; you must be a member of The Door | Text 833-569-0033 |
| Brooklyn Community Pride Center, surgery support letters | Free letters of support and counseling from a licensed clinical social worker | Free, appointment required | Book at lgbtbrooklyn.org/tgnc |
| The LGBTQ+ Center, case coordinator for TGNC (transgender and gender nonconforming) people | Helps you find a doctor, change your name, and get housing, food and cash aid; the center doesn't provide medical care | Whatever your status | The Pre-Intake Form on the community-casework page at gaycenter.org |
Callen-Lorde Community Health Center
Price depends on income
An LGBTQ+ health center with sites in three boroughs. For trans people: hormone therapy, a regular doctor or therapist, and a coordinator who helps with insurance, housing and referrals. A Russian (or sign language) interpreter on request. Mental health care is for the center's patients with no insurance or with Medicaid or Medicare.
NYC Health + Hospitals, Pride Health Services
Price depends on income
Pride Health Services is at eight City system hospitals and centers: Bellevue, Elmhurst, Gotham Health Gouverneur, Gotham Health Judson, Jacobi, Lincoln, Metropolitan and Woodhull. Primary care, hormone therapy, surgery referrals, HIV and STI testing, PrEP and PEP, help with insurance. There is a brochure in Russian. Addresses are at nychealthandhospitals.org; questions about the program: lgbtq@nychhc.org.
Brooklyn Community Pride Center, Gender-Affirming Surgery Support Letters & Counseling
Free
A licensed clinical social worker gives free counseling and support letters for transition surgeries and procedures. By appointment on set days; dates and booking are on the trans programs page.
NYC Health Map
The City's directory of doctors and clinics experienced in LGBTQ+ health. Doctors must use your name and pronouns.
Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Survival & Self-Determination Project
The Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) helps low-income trans, gender-nonconforming and intersex people: documents that show your gender, benefits, insurance codes for surgery, appeals of denials, accompaniment. Send a short email without details of your case to legal@srlp.org. It is an independent organization, not part of QARAVAN.
What you can change now
| What applies now | What to do | |
|---|---|---|
| New York City and State documents and IDs | You can still change the gender marker on City and state documents, including the driver's license and non-driver ID from the state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). | Online in your MyDMV account or at a DMV office with Form MV-44. |
| U.S. passport | The US State Department is not changing gender markers on passports now: on November 6, 2025 the US Supreme Court paused the court order against this policy, so it is in effect again. | Until this changes, don't count on a marker change; follow the news and ask a lawyer. |
| Immigration documents (USCIS) | US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recognizes only male (M) or female (F). If your birth certificate shows M or F, that is what counts. | Before filing, talk to a lawyer about what to put under "sex". |
| City shelters | The City Department of Homeless Services (DHS), which manages the shelters, requires no proof of gender and lets you choose a marker, including X. | You state your gender yourself; no documents needed. |
USCIS and the X marker
According to Immigration Equality (which helps LGBTQ+ people with immigration cases), USCIS has not used the X marker since April 2, 2025.
Name change on a license or ID by mail: who can do it
You can change your name by mail if you have a Standard license, permit or non-driver ID (not REAL ID or Enhanced); your Social Security number is on file with the DMV; you've already changed your name with the Social Security Administration; and nothing else is changing (such as sex or address).
Name change by mail: what to send
Form MV-44NC, a copy of your new Social Security card, a copy of your current license or ID, a copy of the court order changing your name (or another name change document, such as a marriage certificate), and a check or money order for $12.50 for a license or $5 for a non-driver ID, payable to Commissioner of Motor Vehicles. Address: Utica Processing Center, 207 Genesee Street, Utica, NY 13501.
Name change at a DMV office
Otherwise, go to a DMV office with Form MV-44; REAL ID or Enhanced also needs a new photo.
Court order copies and legal help
A certified copy of the court order costs $6 (according to SRLP). For legal help: Legal Services NYC or SRLP; The LGBTQ+ Center has a coordinator but no legal representation.
Find out where to file
You file a name change petition in the court of the county where you live. In New York City: the NYC Civil Court in your county, where the fee is lower, or the County Clerk of your county's Supreme Court; outside the city, the County Clerk of the Supreme Court. The New York State Supreme Court is a trial court, not the US Supreme Court. Under 18, a parent or guardian files, and at 14–17 your consent is also needed. After marriage, divorce, adoption or naturalization, you don't need a court to change your name.
Gather documents
The petition with a proposed order, and proof of birth, such as an original birth certificate. The Manhattan form is on the New York County court website. Without a birth certificate, a passport, immigration document or other document with your date and place of birth works.
Fill in the petition and have it notarized
In the reasons section, write what you want the judge to know; everything must be true. If your safety requires the case not to be public, check the request to seal the records: otherwise a name change petition is a public record anyone can read. Sign in front of a notary public; many banks notarize for free.
File with the court and pay the fee or ask for a waiver
The fee: $65 at the NYC Civil Court and $210 at the Supreme Court and County Court. If you can't pay, ask for a fee waiver. At the Supreme Court you also file a free Request for Judicial Intervention. The form SRLP recommends also lets you change your sex designation; the rules depend on where you were born and are in the Sex Designation Change section of the state courts' website.
Know your rights
Since December 21, 2021, under the state Gender Recognition Act, most New Yorkers don't have to publish a name change notice. Trans people don't need to show medical documents, and citizenship is not required. If a judge refuses because you have no medical documents, get legal help.
Ask for help if you need it
Legal Services NYC holds a Name Change and ID Update Clinic for LGBTQ+ people, SRLP has a legal help line, and The LGBTQ+ Center can tell you where to change your name for free.
Legal Services NYC, Name Change and ID Update Clinic
Free
Free help for LGBTQ+ people changing their name and gender marker on documents. Sign up for the clinic on the organization's page. Help depends on capacity and on where you live.
Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP), legal help line
SRLP's legal help for low-income trans, gender-nonconforming and intersex people. Write a short email to legal@srlp.org without details of your case (others may read it), and a lawyer gets back to you, even when new intake is closed. The website has a step-by-step name change guide.
The LGBTQ+ Center, help with transition and documents
Free
A community center in Manhattan with a coordinator for trans and gender-nonconforming people, whatever their status: suggests doctors and where to go for a name change, and helps with housing, food and cash aid. Start with the online pre-intake form on the website. The center doesn't provide legal representation.
State your own gender
Under the DHS rule for trans, nonbinary and intersex people, at shelter intake you choose a marker: man or boy, woman or girl, transgender man, transgender woman, nonbinary, X or gender-nonconforming, other, intersex, or "prefer not to say". No proof is required, and it doesn't have to match your documents. You can't be refused a space or program that fits your gender because of your sex at birth.
Say how you want to be addressed
Staff must ask what name and pronouns to use and address you that way. Your trans status and medical history can't be shared without your permission.
Ask about placement for trans people
You can ask for a shelter where you'll be safer. For example, Marsha's House is a shelter for LGBTQ+ adults (ages 18–35 according to DHS); there are also 150+ beds for trans, nonbinary and intersex people in every borough except Staten Island. Placement depends on available beds and eligibility and isn't guaranteed; if nothing is free, you go on a waitlist.
You can ask for privacy and safety
Privacy and safety requests, including complaints about being deadnamed or misgendered, must be taken seriously. If a request can't be met, staff must note it in your file and explain why. In New York City it is illegal to force you to use a bathroom or shower that doesn't match your gender identity.
If your rights are violated, go to the Commission on Human Rights
Report refusals or mistreatment in a shelter to the City Commission on Human Rights online: nyc.gov/ReportDiscrimination.
Destination Tomorrow, House of Hope
An LGBTQ+ center in the Bronx. House of Hope offers emergency and transitional housing for trans, gender-nonconforming and nonbinary adults 25 and older. Apply through the QR code on the website; questions to housing@destinationtomorrow.org. Peer counseling and referrals to legal and medical services are available too.
NYC Department of Homeless Services, policy for trans people
The DHS rule (DHS-PB-2019-015, revised September 3, 2024) for all shelters and homeless programs operated or funded by DHS: no proof of gender is required, you can choose a marker including X, and no one is refused gender-appropriate space because of their sex at birth.
The LGBTQ+ Center, help with housing, food and benefits
Free
The coordinator for trans and gender-nonconforming people helps whatever your status: housing, food, cash aid. For City benefits and affordable housing the center points to Access HRA (the City benefits agency's website for applications), Housing Connect (the City's affordable housing application site) and SNAP (food aid). Start with the Pre-Intake Form on the center's website.
The LGBTQ+ Center, Harmonies
Free
A group for trans, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people, Tuesdays 6–7:30 pm; online in the first week of the month.
The LGBTQ+ Center, Stories
Free
A group for trans women, transfeminine and nonbinary people, Mondays 6:30–8 pm; online in the second week of the month.
The LGBTQ+ Center, Voices
Free
A group for trans men, transmasculine and nonbinary adults, Mondays 6:30–8 pm; online in the second, third and fourth weeks of the month.
Brooklyn Community Pride Center, programs for trans people
Programs for trans and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) people: TGNC Swim Night, TRANScendental, Body Talk and the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil. Schedule and sign-up at lgbtbrooklyn.org/tgnc.
Destination Tomorrow, support groups
Support groups for trans men, transmasculine people and trans women in the Bronx. For the schedule, email nicole@destinationtomorrow.org.
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, Emet
An online space for trans, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming and questioning people at the Jewish congregation Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST). Meets the first Thursday of the month. Questions: transjews@cbst.org.
Point of Pride, free chest binders
Free
A nonprofit project that sends free chest binders to trans people who can't afford or safely get one. Open all year, but the waitlist is very long: about 75 new requests a day. Free shipping in discreet packaging.
The Door, clothing and personal items that fit your identity
Under 25
For The Door's patients aged 19–24, trans health care includes clothes and items that fit your identity. You must be a member of The Door.
Trans Lifeline
Free
A line answered by trans people. Calls are anonymous. They don't call police or an ambulance without your clear request; by law they report real threats of violence to others and suspected child abuse. The line is in English and Spanish; for Russian, call 988 and say "Russian": an interpreter joins.
The Trevor Project
Under 25Free
A free, confidential 24/7 crisis line for LGBTQ+ young people under 25: call, text (START to 678-678) or chat on the website. Calls, texts and chat are in English; for Russian, call 988 and say "Russian": an interpreter joins.
- LGBTQ+
- Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other people.
- TGNC (transgender and gender nonconforming)
- People whose gender differs from the one recorded at birth or doesn't fit "male" or "female". Nonbinary people identify as neither men nor women.
- Hormone therapy (HRT)
- Hormone treatment (hormone replacement therapy) that helps your body match your gender. A doctor prescribes it.
- Letter of support
- A letter from a licensed professional required for some transition surgeries and procedures.
- Sliding fee scale
- The fee depends on income and family size: lower on a low income.
- NYC Care
- A City program: free or low-cost care at NYC Health + Hospitals for people who can't afford or don't qualify for insurance.
- Gender marker
- The letter or word on a document showing sex or gender: M, F or X.
- Discrimination
- Worse treatment of someone because of a protected trait, such as gender identity.
This is general information, not legal advice: QARAVAN has no lawyers. QARAVAN does not help anyone enter the US and cannot arrange visas, invitations, sponsorship or evacuation. For your own case, talk to a licensed immigration attorney or a representative accredited by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Sources, checked November 2026
- gaycenter.org
- gaycenter.org/support/community-casework
- gaycenter.org/tgnc
- lgbtbrooklyn.org
- lgbtbrooklyn.org/tgnc
- destinationtomorrow.org
- destinationtomorrow.org/services
- callen-lorde.org
- callen-lorde.org/register
- nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/lgbtq.page
- cbst.org
- cbst.org/community/emet
- srlp.org/legal-services
- legalservicesnyc.org/resources/lgbtq-rights
- callen-lorde.org/trans-health
- nychealthandhospitals.org/services/lgbtq-health-care-services
- door.org/transgender-health
- thetrevorproject.org/get-help
- translifeline.org/hotline
- pointofpride.org/free-chest-binders
- srlp.org/resources/namechange
- nyc.gov/assets/dhs/downloads/pdf/dhs_policy_on_serving_transge…
- nyc.gov/ReportDiscrimination