LGBTQIA+ Rights and Resources

If you were married in Texas, or any state that still has laws about same-sex marriage not being recognized, you may want to get remarried in another state that doesn’t have that same policy or get a document of domestic partnership registered with your county clerk.

As of October 2025, judges are permitted to refuse to perform wedding ceremonies based upon sincerely held religious beliefs.

• Same-Sex Common Law Marriage in Texas
• Same-Sex Marriage in Texas
• Paths to Parentage Security

If you are not the biological parent of a child in your partnership or same-sex marriage, you should consider adoption to ensure legal rights over your child.

If you have sperm, eggs, or embryos in frozen storage, consult with a fertility lawyer in Texas or the state where your genetic material is stored to determine if any extra protections need to be put in place or if they should be moved to another state.

• LGBTQ+ Parental Rights
• Same-Sex Parentage

If you already have a will, make sure it is up to date, so all your assets go to trusted people in your life. Check all bank, retirement, and insurance accounts to ensure you have the correct beneficiaries listed. If you own a home or vehicle, consider filing a “Transfer on Death Deed” and “Motor Vehicle Beneficiary Designation”. These steps will allow your largest assets to pass to trust friends and family without going through the probate court process.

If you do not have a will, you should create one now. There are Supreme Court of Texas-approved wills forms available for anyone to use. If you have children, you should include them in your will to protect their right to inherit when you pass. This is important if you are not a biological parent and have not adopted the children.

You should also consider a Power of Attorney (POA). A POA allows a trusted person to make important decisions on your behalf in case you are incapacitated. There are different kinds of POAs depending on the need, with a durable POA being the most broad and allowing full access to bank accounts. A Medical POA allows a trusted person to make important decisions for you when you cannot make them yourself. With an Appointment of Agent to Control Disposition of Remains, you give a friend or family member the authority to make decisions about what happens to your body when you die. 

• Texas Guide to Disposition of Remains
• End of Life Guide for LGBTQ+ Texans
• LGBTQ+ Advance Healthcare Planning
• Supreme Court Approved Wills Forms

As of now, all U.S. Passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad with gender markers reflecting the holder’s gender identity—including those with an X marker—remain valid until they expire or are replaced. You will not be forced to change your gender marker until your passport expires, or you request to renew it.

Currently, there are no orders or laws in place requiring people to change their name or gender markers on IDs back to what they were assigned at birth.

However, in 2025, Texas passed several laws affecting sex marker changes. If you have state medical records with your changed gender or you changed the gender on your birth certificate, it may be changed back. Texas Health and Safety Code 183.007 and 183.008 require electronic health records to document a person’s sex assigned at birth as either male or female; changes are allowed only to correct clerical errors or for certain diagnoses. A birth certificate can only be changed if it is “proved by satisfactory evidence to be inaccurate.”

• Texas Identity Documents
• ACLU Texas Fact Sheet on Gender Markers

If you were able to change your driver’s license or state ID, but not your U.S. passport, you may not be able to change your gender marker.

Under the current policy:

• No new ‘X’ designations are issued.
• Gender marker changes to reflect a person’s gender identity are no longer allowed.
• Renewals, or reissuance (to replace a lost or damaged passport) of passports revert to sex assigned at birth, regardless of history of prior markers aligned with gender identity.

Please Note: As of October 2025, airlines are required to disregard gender-neutral "X" on U.S. passports following the end of a 90-day compliance period set by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This change should not affect travel plans. All travelers are still being processed normally, regardless of gender markers.

Each state, as well as the federal government, has its own standards for what is allowed to be changed.

In Texas, you can only change your name on state IDs and driver’s licenses or birth certificates. To change your name, you will need to get a court order signed by a judge.

On your US passport, you can only change your name. To change your name, you will need a court order signed by a judge.

If you are born in a different state or country, consult with that state agency to determine what you need to change your gender marker. You can check with Advocates for Trans Equality for basic information about your state’s ID requirements.

• Identity Document Guidance for Transgender, Nonbinary, Gender-Nonconforming, and Intersex People
• Know Your Rights: Passports
• Know Your Rights: Airport Security
• ID Documents Center
• Adult Name Change Guide

Before beginning hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or Gender Reassignment Surgery, make sure your insurance covers those procedures, as they can be quite expensive. You should call your insurance provider to ask what is needed to receive coverage. Usually, you will need a diagnosis of “Gender Dysphoria” and a doctor’s confirmation that this treatment is “medically necessary” before insurance will cover that treatment. But, each policy is different, so make sure to follow up with your insurer.

• Know Your Rights: Healthcare
• Know Your Rights: Medicare
• Know Your Rights: Veterans Health Administration Care for Transgender Veterans

You should create a “safe folder” documenting your child’s history of gender dysphoria, including legal, medical, and personal records.

Texas law prohibits physicians from providing certain medical procedures and treatments for children under the age of 18:

• Perform a surgery that sterilizes a child;
• Perform a mastectomy; and
• Prescribe or provide prescription drugs that stop or delay normal puberty.

In 2022, the Texas Governor’s Office directed the Department of Family and Protective Services (commonly known as DFPS or CPS) requiring the agency to investigate reports of parents providing gender-affirming care to their minor children as abuse. Since March 2024, a court order has stopped DFPS from investigating families for abuse solely on allegations that they are providing gender-affirming care to their children. The court order has also stopped DFPS from taking any action in open investigations other than to close them so long as DFPS can close the case without making further contact with the families. If you are dealing with DFPS, contact the Family Helpline at Texas Legal Services Center.

• Know Your Rights: A Guide for Families of Transgender Children in Texas
• Find your local PFLAG chapter
• Protecting the Rights of Transgender Parents and Their Children: A Guide for Parents and Lawyers

You cannot be discriminated against for your sex, sexual orientation, gender presentation, or identity. If you feel you are being discriminated in work, school, or housing because of any of these factors, contact your city Office of Civil Rights, the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), or the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to file a complaint.

For any complaint to the TWC, WHD, or EEOC, you must start the claim process within 180 days of the date of the alleged violation. You also have a two-year time limit for filing a lawsuit in most cases. You should start the claim process as soon as possible to ensure that you have enough time to assert your rights.

• Discrimination at Work
• Recognizing Employment Discrimination
• Harassment at Work
• Filing a Discrimination Charge Against Your Employer
• Job Termination or Discrimination
• Know Your Rights: Employment

In 2025, Texas passed laws limiting public and charter school teachers and staff from assisting with social transitioning (i.e. using preferred pronouns), instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for students in Pre-K through 12th grade, and prohibiting student clubs based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Teachers and parents should check with their local school council on how they are enforcing the new laws.

Texas law requires student athletes to play on the team that corresponds with their sex assigned at birth. This applies to all interscholastic teams sponsored by a school district or open-enrollment charter school.

• Title IX and Gender Equality in Texas Public School Athletics
• Know Your Rights: Schools