What is my legal gender?

Important Notice: During 2025, the information related to federal ID rights and sex/gender on federal records is changing rapidly. An executive order issued earlier in 2025 temporarily banned sex or gender changes on federal identity records and documents. This included passports, Social Security records, tribal and BIA related records, immigration records and other federal records. These bans are being challenged by lawsuits. 

The ACLU’s lawsuit about the passport ban got back the right to change passports as of June 18, 2025 through a temporary preliminary injunction. This means that the case isn’t done yet but that gender diverse people can resume changing their passports while the case continues. To change your passport, you must complete a new data collection form about your sex, gender and gender identity. This form will become part of your permanent federal government records. It is possible that the Social Security Administration (SSA) will similarly update their systems to allow sex changes again later this summer but currently the SSA can’t process sex changes for their records.

What is my legal gender? 

The concept of “legal gender” is complicated. Legal gender usually is the sex or gender that is listed on various government IDs and records. In Washington state, discrimination protections include both sex and gender and treat them interchangeably. Gender expression and gender identity are included in the state law and are defined in the state law as: "having or being perceived as having a gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior, or expression, whether or not that gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior, or expression is different from that traditionally associated with the sex assigned to that person at birth".

Your gender identity and lived experience might not match your legal gender that is listed on your records or various IDs. Your legal gender on various IDs might not define your gender identity and lived experience of your gender and sex. A sex or gender assignment or designation on your records can affect many parts of your daily life. In Washington state, protections include gender identity and gender expression, not just sex or gender assignment.

Is my legal gender the sex or gender that is listed on my birth certificate?

No, not exactly. There are many records that have your sex or gender designation listed on them. No single record or ID exclusively controls what is called your “legal gender.” Historically, no single government or agency rule defines what is your legal gender. This is because so many various records can affect the sex or gender designations that are used in a person’s daily life. 

A court order that confirms your gender can help you change all your records if you're having difficulty changing certain records like credit records. Certain records and IDs might not be able to be changed depending on the type of record or where it is from. Certain records and IDs may be limited to only Female or Male designations. If you use an X designation and are having challenges getting your various identity records to use X on the record, you might have to try to sue for equity.

Even if you get a court order proving your sex or gender change, your gender listed on each ID or record could be specific to each type of record and situation as you deal with them individually. Even with a court order that confirms your gender or sex (or your sex or gender change), it may be difficult to change every record that has ever existed of your previous sex or gender designations. 

For example:

• If you must show photo ID during an interaction, usually in that situation the sex or gender designation that is listed on that specific photo ID will be considered to be your legal gender.
• If your credit is checked, the sex or gender designation that is listed on your Social Security record can show up on the credit report record.
• When you apply for a job, if the employer asks for your sex designation as part of a bona fide job related need, usually you will list the sex designation that is on your state photo ID or whatever photo ID you provide to your employer to verify your identity.
• When you are hired for a job, you will usually have to provide your Social Security card or proof of work permit but those won’t have your sex designation on the card itself.
• If your employer does a background check when you are hired that includes checking full records from Social Security or a credit check, then your employer might be able to see the sex designation that is listed on your Social Security record.

When you are born, doctors, birth professionals, and your parents assign you a sex assignment or designation on your birth certificate or birth record. Historically in the U.S., newborns have been assigned either Female or Male. Recently, some places also began to issue newborns a birth certificate with an intersex designation or other kind of sex identifier if appropriate. In some places, after a person is born, a parent or the person themself can ask for the sex designation that is on the birth certificate to be changed. The first sex assigned to your birth certificate will be the one that Social Security first used for your records.

What defines my legal gender at the federal level?

If you were born in the U.S. and were registered for a Social Security card at your birth by your parents or guardians, the sex assignment that was first listed on your birth certificate was reported to the Social Security Administration (SSA). That sex designation became the sex designation that was first listed on your Social Security record. The sex designation that was first listed on your Social Security Record is most commonly considered to be your federal “legal gender”. This is called your “Sex Identification on the Social Security Record”. That sex designation is the sex designation that Homeland Security and the Department of State can find out even if you changed it later when SSA was allowing changes.

• If you applied for a Social Security card later on in your life or applied for a Social Security during your citizenship process, the sex designation you were assigned on that application will be your Sex Identification on the Social Security Record.
• If you don’t have a Social Security card and live in Washington state, your legal gender would most likely be the gender that is listed on your state photo ID.
• If the only ID that you have ever had is a birth certificate, then the sex on your birth certificate would be your legal gender. 

Some kind of record of your sex or gender designation exists in many places that don’t necessarily include a visible gender marker or sex designation like your photo ID has on it. 

What if I am under 18? Who decides my legal gender?

That question is hard to answer simply. It depends on many things including: 

• Which adult helps you make decisions in your life
• Whether you are emancipated or not
• Where you were born
• Whether a parenting plan makes decisions about certain things in your life
• Which IDs you want to change to have reflect your lived gender (if any)

Usually, the gender or sex designation that will show up on all your school records and at your jobs would be the sex designation that is on your Social Security record. But for people under 18, the sex that is on your birth certificate can be used a lot too. Once you have a photo ID, you can try to use that for your legal gender or sex designation on all your records.

In Washington, you can ask your employer to make sure your badge or anything else visible to coworkers and customers does have your chosen sex or gender designation or identifiers on it even if your legal records or IDs haven’t been changed. 

You can get an ID in Washington as a teenager and you can choose “X”, “M” or “F” for your WA state ID. Your school might change all the visible records except your transcript to match that ID. It can be hard to change school transcripts in some places without a court order. You might be able to change your transcripts if you show a changed ID like a changed birth certificate. If you get a court ordered name change, your school should change your name on your transcripts.  Even if you don’t legally change your name, your school still has to follow Washington rules about letting you use your chosen name and pronouns at school even if they can’t change them on your transcript. You should ask your school about what is required to change your sex or gender if it is listed on your transcript. 

Changing your gender on your permanent school and work records can be very complicated for people who are under 18 depending on your situation. If you need help with your school, try to get legal help from Team Child. If you are a houseless youth, get in touch with Legal Counsel for Youth and Children to see if they can help you with your ID changes.