I had a phone call with a pair of lawyers today, and they're taking my case pro bono. The case: a name change, and filing the paperwork to waive the fees.

apparently in PA, they've been really good since January at waiving things like that, especially the damn publication requirement. It may take about two or three months to go through, and then six to eight weeks with the message to New Jersey to get my birth certificate updated with the new name and gender...

...but if all goes well, in September I will be able to legally carry ID in the name of Genevieve Marie Dantes, a woman born in the state of New Jersey.

when that happens... I will be doing fucking cartwheels.

At least you're in a state that ALLOWS that. Down here, the gender on the original birth certificate CANNOT legally be changed.

New Jersey is awesome for that. I don't think any state has anything like Transgender Information Hub - I mean, even with a step-by-step how-to section on changing things? A governor who removed publication as a requirement? If I lived five miles eastwards I'd have been changed years ago.