Which states have gender neutral marriage certificates? #Advice#gender#getting legalled#nonbinary / genderqueer#transgender Posted Feb 23 2017 Catherine Clark bijouxandbits Photos by: Eugene Spiegel Queer couple Juno & Noah at their ceremony | Photo by Eugene Spiegel I desperately want to be legally married to my girlfriend so that she can have health insurance through me while we work towards being independent and out enough in our respective gender identities to have a social ceremony with our conservative families. There are a couple of barriers even to legal marriage for us, and I was hoping to knock one of them out ASAP, which is the genders on our marriage license. Here's the deal: I'm non-binary, and she's binary trans. Neither of us have done anything to medically or therapeutically transition and probably won't be any time soon. We were both born and currently live in Tennessee, so even if we did medically transition, I'm pretty sure we're out of luck when it comes to changing our birth certificates. It would be ideal to have a marriage license that uses gender neutral terms like "partner" or "spouse." Are there any states which have gender neutral marriage certificate language or allow someone who has not transitioned to check off their actual gender identity rather than their assigned one? Thanks, Maple Related Post How to get a marriage license: tips and tricks for the engaged and confused If you're planning to get legally married, the most important step to research is how to get a marriage license. Make sure you know your... Read more This is a really great question and one I had to do some digging to figure it out, so I can see why you'd be confused. With Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, you're allowed to marry each other legally in the U.S. regardless of your assigned gender, gender expression, or sex, but I can tell that having the marriage certificate be accurate to you is important. Tennessee in particular is tricky as it's listed as not offering gender neutral certificates, but some of their applications do use gender neutral terms. Checking with your local county clerk would be step one. Outside of Tennessee, here's what we know about which states allow gender neutral marriage licenses and certificates… States which have gender neutral marriage certificates Disclaimer: some of these are liable to change without notice and some are speculative based on media reporting. This also isn't an exhaustive list. If you have a state or city in mind, call the local city hall to verify that they do have this as their standard. Many states' marriage licenses and certificates are now gender neutral, including: California: In 2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed a law requiring the replacement of "husband" or "wife" with the gender neutral term "spouse." Florida: In 2015, The Bureau of Vital Statistics, under the Florida Department of Health, issued marriage certificates and license applications displaying "spouse" and "spouse," instead of "bride" and "groom." Georgia: This Southern state uses "Applicant 1" and "Applicant 2" as their gender neutral marriage license terms. (source: Lambda Legal) Massachusetts: Marriage certificates at the City of Cambridge in Massachusetts ask for a binary sex, but by special permission, this can be left blank, so the marriage certificate has no gender on it. (Source: Wikipedia) New York: According to Lambda Legal, New York uses "Spouse A" and "Spouse B" terminology on their licences and certificates. Washington state: According to the same source, Washington also uses gender neutral terminology on their licences and certificates. Transgender Stickers from AbsolutelyCorgeous Again, this isn't an exhaustive list, is not intended as legal advice, and will need verification on any state before you head out there. Lambda Legal has a great FAQ about transgender marriage rights you may want to peruse as well. They also offer this advice: "If your state is still issuing marriage licenses that are not gender neutral or do not reflect your gender identity, contact Lambda Legal’s Legal Help Desk at 1-866-542-8336 or lambdalegal.org/help." More advice for transgender and non-binary couples: Related Post This gender fluid wedding dress photo shoot gives zero fucks about the "gender binary" If you're a frequenter of Vine, YouTube, and other social sources, you may know of Jeffrey Marsh, the inspiring, perfectly styled, gender fluid viral sensation telling us to just be… Read More Related Post Male wedding privilege as seen from a transgender groom's perspective I have been thinking about the weird privilege I've held as the male-presenting person in this relationship. I believe this is because people want to honor my identity and respect… Read More Related Post Looking for a truly trans-friendly honeymoon spot I have a question for you and your readers. I am looking for a trans-friendly, really truly friendly, honeymoon spot. We worry about plumbing, about being questioned, about being unsafe,… Read More Catherine Clark Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com. @enidjcoleslaw @bijouxandbits @bijouxandbits PREVIOUS Feast your eyes on this gorgeous desert boho wedding NEXT This red panda cake topper is the squee we need today Show/Hide comments [ 8 ] In DC our marriage application and license are gender neutral. I believe they use the terms "Spouse 1" and "Spouse 2". Reply In Colorado (at least in Denver County), the marriage application and license use the terms Party 1 and Party 2. Reply Just got my Virginia license yesterday and we could choose to be bride and groom or spouse and spouse, I'm not sure if we could have been bride and bride or groom and groom. Reply When we got married in Wisconsin in 2015, there was a choice for each blank of "bride", "groom", or "spouse." We chose to be spice. 🙂 The clerk made it sound like it was required after marriage equality passed, but I guess that's still a state-by-state thing. Reply MA definitely has gender neutral marriage licenses. When we got ours, they say party A and party B on them and at the bottom it asks for your sex but I think you can waive it. Reply Iowa also has the "spouse" option. Reply Hennepin County in Minnesota also had Non-binary applications and certificates! That's where we got ours. Reply Utah has Spouse #1 and Spouse #2 in the marriage license. Reply Join the conversation Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Sign me up for your offbeat awesomeness newsletter! 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In DC our marriage application and license are gender neutral. I believe they use the terms "Spouse 1" and "Spouse 2". Reply
In Colorado (at least in Denver County), the marriage application and license use the terms Party 1 and Party 2. Reply
Just got my Virginia license yesterday and we could choose to be bride and groom or spouse and spouse, I'm not sure if we could have been bride and bride or groom and groom. Reply
When we got married in Wisconsin in 2015, there was a choice for each blank of "bride", "groom", or "spouse." We chose to be spice. 🙂 The clerk made it sound like it was required after marriage equality passed, but I guess that's still a state-by-state thing. Reply
MA definitely has gender neutral marriage licenses. When we got ours, they say party A and party B on them and at the bottom it asks for your sex but I think you can waive it. Reply
Hennepin County in Minnesota also had Non-binary applications and certificates! That's where we got ours. Reply