Gender Issues
Change Your Birth Certificate
06/10/2021
Ohio Now Allows Birth Certificate Changes
For many years, the state of Ohio was one of only two states that did not allow for an individual to legally change the gender marker on their birth certificate. However, on December 16, 2020, a Federal District Court held in Ray v. McCloud that it is unconstitutional to deny a transgender person the ability to change the gender marker on their birth certificate. We are presently awaiting procedures from the Ohio Department of Health for how this decision will be implemented. We look forward to helping transgender people born in Ohio change their gender markers on their birth certificates as soon as this information is available. Due to cost and convenience, we encourage you to consider waiting until these new procedures are available to change both your legal name and gender marker on your birth certificate. However, if you would like to change your legal name first, you can follow the instructions below. In order to change your legal name on a birth certificate, you must first receive a legal name change order from a probate court. Upon receiving the legal name change order, the individual can complete an application for a certified copy of one’s birth certificate with the Ohio Department of Health. The legal name change order MUST accompany the application for a certified copy of a birth certificate in order for the birth certificate to reflect the updated legal name. The application for a certified copy of a birth certificate can be found at odh.ohio.gov. The completed application and the accompanying legal name change order must be mailed to the following address:
Ohio Department of Health
Vital Statistics
P.O. Box 15098
Columbus OH, 43215
Once the completed application and accompanying fees ($21.50) have been received and processed, the Ohio Department of Health will mail the updated certified copy of the birth certificate to the address listed on the application.
For many years, the state of Ohio was one of only two states that did not allow for an individual to legally change the gender marker on their birth certificate. However, on December 16, 2020, a Federal District Court held in Ray v. McCloud that it is unconstitutional to deny a transgender person the ability to change the gender marker on their birth certificate. We are presently awaiting procedures from the Ohio Department of Health for how this decision will be implemented. We look forward to helping transgender people born in Ohio change their gender markers on their birth certificates as soon as this information is available. Due to cost and convenience, we encourage you to consider waiting until these new procedures are available to change both your legal name and gender marker on your birth certificate. However, if you would like to change your legal name first, you can follow the instructions below. In order to change your legal name on a birth certificate, you must first receive a legal name change order from a probate court. Upon receiving the legal name change order, the individual can complete an application for a certified copy of one’s birth certificate with the Ohio Department of Health. The legal name change order MUST accompany the application for a certified copy of a birth certificate in order for the birth certificate to reflect the updated legal name. The application for a certified copy of a birth certificate can be found at odh.ohio.gov. The completed application and the accompanying legal name change order must be mailed to the following address:
Ohio Department of Health
Vital Statistics
P.O. Box 15098
Columbus OH, 43215
Once the completed application and accompanying fees ($21.50) have been received and processed, the Ohio Department of Health will mail the updated certified copy of the birth certificate to the address listed on the application.