Protect Yourself. Protect Your Family.

Updated: 01/24/2025

This Free Public Education Resource Does Not Constitute Legal Advice

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UPDATE January 24, 2025: In implementing the Executive Order issued regarding gender on January 20, the U.S. State Department has now frozen/suspended applications for passports with X gender markers, as well as any application with a request for a gender change on existing passports.  Submitting a passport application now with a gender marker request for X, or a change from the previous gender designation, may mean that your passport will be held indefinitely.  Until there is clearer information, we advise caution in sending in an existing passport for renewal if you are requesting a gender marker change, or have had your gender marker changed on your passport in the past, as this may result in your passport being held indefinitely.

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Many LGBTQIA+ and polyamorous people are understandably terrified about what a second Trump term could mean for our rights to bodily autonomy, self-determination, and the right to form family as we choose, particularly given the hateful rhetoric against trans people and against any family that isn’t heterosexual and nuclear in Project 2025.

You deserve to be able to define your gender, your life, and your family as you choose. You deserve to feel safe. We are here to support you, and we’re part of a vast network of people who care about you worldwide. We’re not going anywhere. We will do everything we can to protect and support your family.

One thing you can do NOW is take practical steps to get all of your legal documents in order to protect yourself and your people as much as possible. You can also make an impact in your community; spread the word and tell your friends who are trans, your friends who are non-biological parents, and all the queer community you can by sharing this information.

Chosen Family Law Center is proud to provide FREE legal services for low-income LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers. Learn more about eligibility and sign up here: chosenfamilylawcenter.org/request-services 

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR LGBTQIA+ AND CHOSEN FAMILY IN NEW YORK: 

The general information below does not constitute legal advice. This document was updated on November 8, 2024. We will continue to post updates as we receive them.

If You Are Transgender, Nonbinary, or Gender Non-Conforming: 

• Update your passport and gender markers: For transgender, nonbinary, or gender non-conforming people who live in New York, our local policies around name change petitions and local ID’s are likely to be stable for now. However, the requirements for updating your U.S. passports and other federal identity documents are put out by the Federal State Department. Under current procedures, you can change the gender marker on your passport to M, F, or X just by selecting your desired marker on your passport application. However, this procedure could be changed administratively at any time. If you have been planning to change your Passport, Social Security record, or state-issued IDs, it’s a good idea to do so as soon as possible.
• Please note: If you have selected X as your gender marker, or are considering it, you may want to read our article about making this decision here.
• Name or Gender Marker Change: Although the policies in NY are unlikely to change soon, it’s a good idea to complete this now if you have been intending to, so that you will have name and gender marker consistency across your identity documents as much as possible. Chosen Family Law Center is here to help you get the court orders you need to get this done.

If You Are a Non-Biological Parent:

• Get a Second-Parent Adoption or Judgment of Parentage now. Being married does not ensure your parental rights. Being on the birth certificate as a non-biological parent is not sufficient - you may be able to use a marriage license or birth certificates to seek recognition of your parental status in NY and other progressive states, but parentage deriving only from marriage isn’t valid nationwide or internationally, and your child’s birth certificate is only a record, not a legally effective document. 
• Judgment of Parentage is a much more speedy process, and a Second-Parent Adoption in NYC is arduous and often takes several years. [Note that for efficiency, Chosen Family Law Center only offers clients a free Judgment of Parentage but can refer you for paid adoption filings.]
• Read this article on the differences between Second-Parent Adoption and Judgment of Parentage to help decide which is right for your family.

For All LGBTQIA+ People & Those In Non-Nuclear or Polyamorous Families:

• Prepare Health Care Proxies and Living Wills to ensure hospital visitation access and medical decision-making for your partner(s). These documents are legally enforceable nationwide. 
• Prepare Wills, Powers of Attorney, and estate documents to establish federally (and often internationally) recognized documents that connect you to your partner(s) legally and financially – even if you are not married, even if your same-sex marriage is not recognized in some states, and even if private institutions are allowed to discriminate against you based on gender identity, sexual orientation, and relationship configuration.

With LGBTQIA+ rights and rights to bodily autonomy at risk at the federal level, look to whether your state law will protect you. In NY, Proposition 1 was just passed. This Equal Rights Amendment to the New York Constitution is stronger than a state law, which could be rolled back. It protects against many forms of discrimination, including LGBTQIA+ discrimination, and protects abortion and reproductive rights. Progressive states like NY, CA, and IL have already stated publicly that they will fight to defend these rights. Be conscious of what your state law is, and if you have the privilege of moving to a state that will try to protect you, it is worth considering this. Community mutual aid groups are starting to support relocation to safer states.  

If you are in a state other than NY, do all you can now to push forward and fortify your state and local protections with actions like NY’s Proposition 1. Our relationship structure and status non-discrimination laws drafted in coalition with Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition have passed in several CA and MA cities, as well as legislation allowing multi-partner domestic partnership in MA cities. Your city council, your school board, local nonprofits, and mutual aid communities near you are places where you can have a voice and do all you can to protect freedom from discrimination in your local area. 

Same-Sex Marriage: 

It is possible that we will lose federal same-sex marriage rights, and that the granting and recognition of same-sex marriages will be up to the discretion of states. The Supreme Court may strike down the 2015 Obergefell decision, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. If this happens: we believe your existing same-sex marriage will still be valid. Your rights in New York and more progressive states are unlikely to change, but at least 20 conservative states have signaled they would ban same-sex marriages going forward. Your right to marry may become state-specific. 

• If possible, consider getting married now if you have been intending to. Make sure you understand the legal meanings and financial impact of marriage before doing so. Chosen Family Law Center offers free Prenuptial Agreements for eligible clients to help in this decision. 
• If you intend to utilize federal immigration benefits based on your same-sex marriage, take action now to complete that. 

Impact of Possible Repeal of Anti-Sodomy Laws:

In the 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade on reproductive rights, Justice Thomas also signaled the possibility that Lawrence v. Texas from 2003 could be overturned, which invalidated state laws that criminalized sodomy and other consensual sex between adults. This would have alarming impacts on our rights to sexual privacy, particularly for LGBTQIA+ people. Project 2025 has also stated the intention to criminalize our sexual freedom, including pornography. If Lawrence is overturned, more than a dozen states currently have some form of anti-sodomy laws still on the books that could criminalize LGBTQIA+ sex.

Check your local laws and if you live in one of these states, you may want to work now to get these laws overturned. If Lawrence is overruled, and you have the privilege to do so, you may want to avoid these states until these laws are overturned.

Contraceptives:

In the Dobbs decision, Justice Thomas also argued that the Court should reconsider the seminal 1965 case Griswold v. Connecticut, which established the right to contraception. This could be an even more devastating blow to reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy than Dobbs on its own, since it would open the door for states to place bans on the morning after pill, IUDs, birth control pills, and condoms. 

If you live in a state with an abortion ban, you should research whether that ban includes any contraceptives. If Griswold is overturned, and you have the privilege to do so, you may want to choose to not live in or travel to these states.

Impact on Procedural Justice due to so-called ‘Religious Freedom’:

In its decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District released on June 27, 2022, the Supreme Court upheld for the first time the right of a government employee to express their religious beliefs in their official capacity. In combination with the threat to substantive due process in Dobbs, this ruling could have devastating effects on the procedural due process rights of LGBTQIA+ people. Conservative government employees may try to use this precedent to argue that it violates their freedom of religion to process the marriage certificates of same sex couples, file the name changes of transgender people, or grant parentage to polyamorous people. If this happens, people from marginalized communities across the country may find it extremely difficult or impossible to access government benefits or justice through the court system. 

Because it’s hard to predict what will happen, we recommend that you take all the protective steps available to you – just because something isn’t a perfect guarantee of protection from every possible threat doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. This is all the more reason to try to take the steps above to protect your family NOW.

How to move forward with resilience and resistance, together:

To take a step back from these practical steps, an authoritarian’s goal is for us to be isolated from one another, give up on action in overwhelm and fear, and feel disoriented from what steps we could take to protect ourselves and our democracy. Taking these legal actions and sharing them with your community may help you feel grounded with a specific purpose. We invite you to join us in purposeful actions to protect one another, community, and resistance. We recommend this article to read more about how to find your place in standing up for our rights and our democracy.  

Our community is deeply in need, and if you have support to offer, your donations will help us provide desperately needed security to those who are at risk: chosenfamilylawcenter.org/donate

We are here for you, and we aren’t going anywhere.

To find out if you are eligible for pro bono services from Chosen Family Law Center for any of the above,  please visit our GET HELP page. If you are not eligible for our services, contact us by email (contact@chosenfamilylawcenter.org) and we will refer you to other providers as best we can.

The LGBT Bar Association keeps a vetted roster of LGBT attorneys by US State.  If you need an attorney for a name change, parentage, will and estate documents, etc and you are not in NY, we suggest you click your state on the map here to find an attorney near you: 

https://lgbtqbar.org/programs/member-practice-area-groups/family-law-institute/family-law-attorney-directory/