VA Name and Gender Change
NAME CHANGE
Veterans may change their names in the VA databases (national and local healthcare facility) by forwarding a letter request with a certified copy of the court ordered name change to both the regional VA office that holds one’s records and one’s primary healthcare facility. Retirees may do the same with DoD by providing their parent service’s personnel command retiree section and the DFAS Columbus Retired Pay Office a certified copy of the court ordered name change. A new retired ID card can be issued and a DEERS name change entry made at any military Pass and ID office by presenting a certified copy of the court ordered name change.
DD-214. Recent litigation has made it possible for veterans to change their name on the DD 214 form. Here is a comprehensive guide to changing your name on your DD 214: Military Records Resource Jan 2015 FINAL. In addition, if you wish to speak to an attorney on this issue, please contact the LGBT Bar Association: http://lgbtbar.org/who-we-are/staff/. To learn how these veterans changed their name on their DD-214, please read these articles: http://lgbtbar.org/what-we-do/programs/trans-military-advocacy/
GENDER CHANGE (DoD)
Veterans may request a change of gender marker in DoD records by submitting a Form DD 149, Application for Correction of Military Record parent service’s records correction activity (e.g., the Board for Correction of Naval Records). Include as a minimum a certified copy of the court-ordered name change and a notarized copy of the surgeon’s SRS/GRS/GCS confirmation letter. Expect the process to take a year or more. The corrections activity, acting in the name of the Service Secretary (e.g., Secretary of the Army), will task the appropriate military personnel command to issue a Statement of Service in your new name and gender. Issue of the Statement of Service can take up to an additional six months.
Retirees can send a copy of the Statement of Service by letter to the Retired Pay Office, DFAS Columbus, requesting the gender marker to be changed ‘wherever recorded in DFAS databases.’ This is important because DFAS issues a periodic master tape that overrides any data in the DEERS database.
Changing the retiree’s DEERS gender marker can be done at a military Pass and ID office by presenting the surgeon’s letter and the Statement of Service showing your new gender. If the retiree is unmarried, the Pass and ID personnel can make the change. If the retiree’s spouse has also changed sex (i.e., an MTF/FTM couple), the local office can change both gender markers before pressing the Enter key. Patience and a sense of humor are advised when coaching local military personnel through this procedure.
GENDER CHANGE (VA)
In order to alleviate the need for changing the Birth Sex from its original value on patient records, a new field has been added to VistA and the MVI called Self-Identified Gender Identity (SIGI). This field is intended to signify the Veteran’s gender preference for use by VA staff to determine the appropriate way to communicate with the Veteran. This field is available for updating in VistA and will display within MVI and many other VA applications in time. The SIGI field may be set as desired by the Veteran, and requires no documentation for updates.
Note: If the patient is requesting their changed Birth Sex be restored to the birth sex on their original birth certificate and a previous Toolkit Request was submitted to HC IdM, with appropriate documentation, no additional supporting identification is needed. The only supporting documentation needed is the patient’s written request to have this field reflect the sex on their original birth certificate, which must be submitted to HC IdM as a Toolkit Person Verification Task.
Supporting Legal Documentation for a Birth Sex Change
Despite the medical implications, some Veterans will want to change their Birth Sex field to reflect their identity and this is the Veteran’s right. Surgery is not a prerequisite for amendment of Birth Sex. A Veteran’s request for amendment to Birth Sex in the record is considered a Privacy Act “amendment request.” An amendment request to change the Birth Sex requires that the individual submit the request in writing along with one form of un-expired Primary Identification and one form of Secondary Identification that displays the current Birth Sex. The Primary Identification verifies the person’s identity and the Secondary Identification verifies the updated Birth Sex.