The Brief

Mere hours after his Jan. 20 inauguration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order stating that the federal government would recognize only two sexes, male and female. As a result, the State Department immediately eliminated the “X” gender as an option and suspended its previous policy that permitted transgender, intersex and nonbinary people to update gender markers on their passports. 

After a back-and-forth in the federal courts following a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court has ruled that the Trump administration can enforce this policy.

But the latest update is not the end of the road for trans people and gender markers, San Francisco lawyer Alexis Levy said, since “this decision doesn’t dispose of the lawsuit in general.”“That will take several more months at least,” Levy said. “This was an emergency stay, which is a very specific subset that’s become a very frequent feature in this administration, and the Supreme Court during this administration.”

California still allows people to change their gender marker or use “X” on state-issued documents like their birth certificate or their driver’s license.

Levy, who specializes in name and gender marker changes through their nonprofit Identity Affirmation Workshop, said they’ve seen clientele increase “pretty significantly” since the November election.

“People saw the writing on the wall,” said Levy, who has been hosting free gender marker and name change clinics with other LGBTQ+ organizations, including the Oakland LGBTQ Center. “The whole process can be really daunting,” they said.

But what does changing your name or gender marker on official government documents now entail? KQED spoke to Levy about what trans, intersex and nonbinary people can expect during the lengthy process.

Please bear in mind that this is not legal advice, and it’s always a good idea to talk to an expert about your individual situation before taking concrete action — especially because current events may have superseded some information online.

Attorney Alexis Levy poses for a portrait outside the Civic Center Courthouse in San Francisco on Feb. 26, 2025.

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Beth LaBerge

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KQED

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What’s the current situation for trans people’s U.S. passports?

Back in June, the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts ruled that the State Department “must allow people with a gender identity different from their sex assigned at birth to self-select the sex designation on their passport,” leaving a brief window of time in which trans Americans could update or renew their documents accordingly.

But that window is closed once again. Following the Supreme Court’s decision on Nov. 6, all new, renewed and replacement passports will now use the gender marker assigned at birth — and the ‘X’ gender option is no longer available.

While there’s still another decision to come from the First Circuit Court of Appeals left, which could lead to another brief window in which trans people can once again adjust their gender markers, this timeline is “really hard to predict,” Levy said.

“My advice remains the same: that it is better to have a passport with the wrong gender marker on it than it is to have no passport at all,” they said.

In addition to the confusion and anxiety caused by the frequent policy changes, the situation remains “demoralizing” for many trans, intersex, and gender non-conforming people across the country, Levy said — people who were already reeling from the Trump administration’s January executive order affecting their passports.

A 24-year-old trans man told NPR in February that after filing paperwork to change his gender marker to male on his passport before Trump’s inauguration, he received a passport marking him as female. Euphoria actor Hunter Schafer detailed on TikTok how her new passport lists her as male, despite having female on her government documents since she was a teenager.

“I’m just sort of scared of the way this stuff slowly gets implemented,” Schafer said in her social post, explaining her concerns about possibly being forced to out herself in front of a border patrol agent.

“We are never going to stop existing. I’m never going to stop being trans,” Schafer said in her February video. “A letter and a passport can’t change that.”

“There’s really no purpose for policies like this one, apart from making the people it affects’ lives miserable,” Levy said.

Can people who have changed their gender marker or have “X” still use their passports to travel?

The U.S. State Department’s site said that a passport with an “X” marker or that “lists a sex other than [your] sex as defined by the White House executive order” will “remain valid until its expiration date,” and that you can still use it to travel in and out of the U.S.

Acknowledging the anxiety some may have around traveling these passports, Lambda Legal, an organization serving LGBTQ+ people, said it’s not aware of any confirmed incidents “where individuals have faced problems leaving or reentering the United States using an unexpired passport issued prior to the 2025 policy changes — including those with an X gender marker.”

“There have also been no verified reports of passports being confiscated upon reentry,” the group’s website reads.

However, stressed Lambda Legal, travelers should weigh their personal circumstances, “including how you use your passport, your plans for international travel, and your individual safety needs and risk tolerance.”

Which documents can I change my name and/or gender markers on?

There is no one universal application where you can change your name or gender marker for all of your documents and changing one does not prompt another document to change. You have to do it “manually 100% of the time,” Levy said.

Levy said the four major documents people have historically wanted to change to reflect an update to their name or gender identity are:

Federal:

• Passport
• Social Security card and record

State:

• Birth certificate
• Driver’s license or REAL ID

California, along with several other states, still allows people to change their gender marker or use “X” on state-issued documents like their birth certificate or driver’s license.

Other documentation or information that a person might update to reflect a new name or correct gender marker could potentially include: green cards, visas, foreign passports, citizenship certificates, health insurance, insurance and information around banking and credit cards. And name changes, especially, don’t have to be confined to government documents, Levy said.

“Anywhere where your name is attached to it is somewhere where eventually you’re going to have to update it,” said Levy, who went through the name change process themself last summer.

These updates could include mail, magazine subscriptions or their identity at a club or nonprofit.

How can I legally have a change of name and/or gender identity recognized?

To update a lot of your major documentation to reflect a new name and/or correct gender marker, you’ll need to go to your local county court and obtain a court order.

In California, you can ask for the court to recognize:

• A change of name “to make it match your gender identity” or
• A change of gender identity or
• A change of both name and gender identity at the same time.

Depending on your individual situation, you will have to fill out at least two — and potentially several more — forms, which will be filed with your local clerk (and be sure to make a copy of all of them). See which forms might be required to change your name and/or gender identity in California.

Some local courts will ask for their own additional forms to file, which you can check with your court’s clerk. Levy notes that some counties may ask for more biographical information for background-checking purposes, including height, weight and place of birth.

After you’ve provided the information required by your county, generally, the clerk will then send the forms to a judge, who will then sign a name change and gender recognition order.

This certified signed order helps you change your other official documents, like state IDs. You will need multiple copies of the signed order to change each document.

This process is also available to people born or married in California but who now live out of state.

Are there any documents I can change without a court order?

Levy said you could change your gender marker on California documents — such as birth certificates and driver’s licenses/IDs — without a court order, although you’ll still be asked for some “specific supporting documentation.” Name change recognition, however, almost always needs a court order.

Some people may still consider obtaining the court order regardless of having their gender marker changed, even if it’s possible to do so in California without the order, Levy said. That includes people born in another state or country that does require a court order to make such a change. Californians may also consider obtaining the court order as a kind of insurance against potential future changes in federal policy regarding self-selection on gender markers, Levy said, since the Constitution mandates that the federal government. As well as other states, must respect a state court order.

The bureaucratic process of updating a birth certificate without a court order can also be intricate and specific, according to Levy. And since any administrative mistakes on the applicant’s part can lead to long delays, they recommend you consult a legal expert if you choose to go this route.

Do I need permission for a physician to change my name or gender marker?

No. After a 2018 law, California residents do not need a physician’s letter for a name and gender change petition.

Once I’ve obtained my court order recognizing my name and/or gender identity change, how can I start updating my documents?

Updating your Social Security card

You can change your name on your Social Security card through the Social Security Administration.

The card does not list a person’s gender marker, but the agency said it “maintains information in its computer records on everyone who has a Social Security number, including name, date of birth, and sex.”

The California Department of Motor Vehicles — as well as the State Department, banks, insurance companies, credit card companies and more — often use the Social Security database to cross-reference and confirm people’s identities. Changing a name with the Social Security Administration is almost always a prerequisite before updating other government IDs (except birth certificates) and insurance, Levy said.

Lambda Legal, an organization serving LGBTQ+ people, notes that as of Jan. 31, the Trump administration has directed the Social Security Administration to “stop processing gender marker updates” associated with their records.

Advocates for Trans Equality, a trans advocacy group, has noted that Social Security benefits are not dependent on sex. However, “when applying for Medicare, Medicaid, or Obamacare health insurance through the marketplace, use the sex that matches Social Security,” the group said.

Updating your driver’s license or RealID

These are state documents, so you can update your name and/or your gender marker through your local Department of Motor Vehicles. According to the state, you should change your name on your Social Security card before you request a name update on your driver’s license or RealID.

Updating your birth certificate

You can update your name and your gender marker on your birth certificate through the California Department of Public Health. Updating your name requires a court order, but updating your gender marker does not.

Updating your passport 

You can update your name on your passport through the U.S. Department of State.

Updating your marriage certificate

If you had a public marriage, you can update your name or gender marker on your marriage certificate with the State Registrar. If you had a confidential marriage, you can update your marriage certificate with the county recorder’s office that issued the certificate.

How long would changing my name or gender marker take?

According to the state, the decision period in which a judge signs the name change and gender recognition order is six weeks. But in many cases, this can vary, Levy said, and the process can be delayed even longer if there are mistakes in your paperwork.

And once the court order is approved, “each of those individual documents takes different periods of time,” Levy said. “So California birth certificates take about four months. … Usually [with] Social Security, you do that, and you get a new card in the mail within two weeks.”

How much money will changing my name and/or gender markers cost?

Name and gender marker changes can be a pricey process, with just some of the costs including:

• A court petition is $435 to $450, with some fee waivers available for people whose household income is below a set amount or who receive public benefits if a judge approves it.
• Each copy of a certified order is $40. (This is free if you qualify for the fee waiver.)
• Reissuing an updated California birth certificate costs $26.
• Social Security cards are reissued for free.
• An updated driver’s license is $36.
• Passport renewals are $130.

Do I need to circulate my name in the local newspaper?

No. If you are changing your name according to your gender identity, you do not need to have your name change printed in a newspaper.

What if I am worried about my safety?

Court documents are usually public records. If you are in the state witness program or the Safe at Home address confidentiality program, you can ask to keep your name change confidential by asking your local court.

Do I need to be a certain age to update my name or gender marker?

If a person is under 18 and in California, they would need parental permission to change their name and gender marker on their state ID.

Young people can also use their preferred names and pronouns in public schools without having to show any legal documentation. KQED has a guide further explaining the rights of trans students in public K–12 schools.

Andrea and Milo Ronquillo sit with attorney Alexis Levy (right) near the Civic Center Courthouse in San Francisco on Feb. 26, 2025.

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Beth LaBerge

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KQED

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Where can trans folks find support and resources around documentation changes?

Levy holds regular clinic with their firm Identity Affirmation Workshop and said the service is pro bono to anyone living in California or, if they live out of state, born or married in the state.

Other organizations offering advice in this area:

• Trans Equality
• Lambda Legal’s help desk
• Trans Lifeline
• More about the name and gender marker changing process if you are incarcerated.

KQED’s Natalia Navarro contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on March 6 and has been updated to reflect that Alexis Levy’s nonprofit is called Identity Affirmation Workshop.

A new program that gives Angelenos on food assistance the option to have fresh produce delivered to their homes has launched, serving a roughly 20 mile radius around the Atwater Village and Crenshaw farmers markets.

Food Access LA, a non-profit that operates a chain of farmers markets focusing on customers who rely on food assistance, is behind the new Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box delivery program.

Isabel Thottam, with Food Access LA, said she and her colleagues have spent the last three years or so working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other groups to get approval for the delivery program to accept Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT).

“What I’m excited about is just being able to give people that opportunity to choose,” Thottam told LAist. “If they want to get farmers market produce delivered and use their EBT that way, they should have that autonomy to make that decision,” Thottam, who directs the nonprofit’s EAT! Food Distribution program, said.

How it works

Food Access L.A. curates each box of produce from five to seven different vendors from the farmers market and takes on logistics of home delivery.

Organizers said they anticipate delivering 20 to 30 boxes from the Atwater Village and Crenshaw farmers markets every week and expect it to be a welcome option for seniors, people with disabilities or other groups who may have difficulties getting out in-person to a farmers market.

“You know a lot of people do come to the markets with the ... mindset of ‘farmers markets are inaccessible, they’re for rich people, they’re not for me,’” Miguel Ceniceros, senior manager of benefits and incentives at Food Access L.A., told LAist. “Our job is really to dispel those myths.”

A farmers market operated by Food Access LA.

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Courtesy Food Access LA

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‘A lot of uncertainty’ 

The new produce delivery offering comes at a time of substantial change and uncertainty for nutrition assistance programs nationwide.

That’s because the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act that passed last July imposes funding cuts and new requirements for families trying to get help paying for groceries.

L.A. County could see more than 200,000 people at risk of losing their CalFresh benefits because of new work-requirement rules that went into effect last month targeting recipients like those between the ages of 55 to 64, unhoused people, and veterans.

“These changes are quite significant. Because our population of just those estimated impacted are way beyond some caseloads of other counties,” said Shawn Amiel, Division Chief with the L.A. County Department of Public Social Services. “And it could really contribute to the food insecurity of so many people.”

Amiel said she and her colleagues are working now to educate people on possible exemptions and what the new requirements entail.

In the meantime, Amiel welcomes opportunities like the new CSA box delivery.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty as we enter these policy changes having to be implemented,” Amiel said. “So any additional assistance, any additional opportunities to kind of spread out these funds as much as possible should be taken advantage of.”

The new Christopher Nolan epic The Odyssey opens this weekend. And purists will probably want to catch it in a theater to experience it in all of its 70mm glory.

But another film screening (albeit a little more old-fashioned) happens tonight at a park in La Crescenta.

“Oh yeah, Christopher Nolan ... In fact, he uses the same lab that I do to print my 35 [mm] — FotoKem,” said Joe Rinaudo, silent film historian and founder of the nonprofit SCAAT or Silent Cinema Art and Technology. “One time I was over there and Christopher Nolan was there and man they were hopping to it!”

Rinaudo is also the man behind Silent Movies in Two Strike Park, a special showcase of films from the era that usually takes place once a year. Tonight’s program includes Buster Keaton’s One Week (1920), Charley Chase’s Crazy Like a Fox (1926), and Laurel and Hardy’s Do Detectives Think? (1927).

Professor Rinaudo 

Rinaudo, nicknamed “Professor Rinaudo” for his vast silent film knowledge, has spent his life preserving and screening silent classics. His love of old films stretches back to when he was a kid in the 1950s. He even bought 99-cent reels at Sears and would host screenings for neighborhood kids.

Tonight, he will follow in the tradition of the itinerant — or traveling — projectionists of the early 1900s, by cranking out this evening’s slate on a 1909 Power’s Motion Picture Machine Model 6, which started its life with an itinerant projectionist.

“I bought it from the great-grandchildren of the original owner. It was found in a chicken coop and [I] did a total restoration,” Rinaudo said.

I was lucky enough to see the hand-crank process in action at his home in La Crescenta earlier in the week.

“You have to crank at the camera man’s speed,” Rinaudo said. “You have to watch the action very closely … If it slows down, and it looks blurry then you need to speed up, because you’ll betray the camera man’s shutter.”

‘Educate and inspire’ 

Rinaudo’s La Crescenta home isn’t just a showcase for his collection of antique film equipment. It also includes a 20-seat, 1910-style theater that he built. The silent movie palace is complete with an alluring red curtain and period-specific, ornate light fixtures that he manufactured himself.

Joe Rinaudo stands in front of the stage.

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Robert Garrova / LAist

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It defies logic that this huge theater, complete with a second story balcony and projection room, fits in this residential space. But there’s more just below the theater, including an 800-pipe organ Rinaudo is working to restore so that music can accompany his film screenings.

“The pipe organ will of course add a new dimension to the theater. It’s an 11-rank Wurlitzer built in 1920. It was saved from the Covell Theater in Modesto, California,” Rinaudo said.

The massive pipes of the Wurlitzer came to life thanks to a vintage air blower in the basement, their low tones enough to rattle your ribcage.

Rinaudo’s theater isn’t open to the public, but through his nonprofit, he’s thinking about how it can be preserved for all to enjoy. But you can catch his itinerant show at Two Strike Park in La Crescenta, usually once a year. And he's hoping to soon start screening films again at the Nethercutt Collection Museum in Sylmar.

"Eventually, all of this will go into the non-profit after my passing,” Rinaudo said. “I’m hoping to keep this as a private museum ... that will continue to educate and inspire younger people about our history.”

Local ice cream chain Wanderlust Creamery offers a sweet relief from this week’s sweltering temperatures. From ube to mango sticky rice, its unique signature and seasonal flavors can be found across Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Founder and chef Adrienne Borlongan sat down with Austin Cross, who hosts AirTalk every Friday, to discuss Wanderlust’s travel-inspired flavors.

About the owner

Borlongan initially thought that she would be a nurse. But after spending two years completing nursing prerequisites, she pivoted to a degree in food science and worked as a bartender for almost a decade.

Adrienne Borlongan, founder and chef of Wanderlust Creamery, is also a food scientist.

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Lindy Lin

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One day, her roommate brought home an ice cream maker.

“And that kind of just snowballed into this crazy ice cream obsession,” Borlongan recalled.

She founded Wanderlust with her partner Jon-Patrick Lopez in 2015.

What sets the store apart?

Wanderlust’s flavors come from places Borlongan has either traveled to or has on her travel bucket list.

Many of the flavors are inspired by Borlongan’s Filipino-American heritage, including a best-selling ube malted crunch. It also features flavors like Ashta, a clotted cream from the Middle East.

The ultimate Wanderlust experience, according to the chef

Wanderlust Creamery is known for flavors from all over the world.

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Courtesy Wanderlust Creamery

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You're encouraged to try as many samples as your heart desires. Wanderlust’s staff are trained to guide anyone through the flavors and talk you through options before you make a decision.

What’s next for Wanderlust? 

Borlongan is working on innovating new flavors for the summer, including an ice cream based on Swedish candies. She’s trying to whip up a mixture that’s able to keep the gummies chewy while frozen in ice cream.

Wanderlust is also opening a new location in San Diego.

Shop details

• Wanderlust’s ice cream has less air compared to traditional ice cream, making it rich and creamy. 
• Its seasonal menu items include Buontalenti, honey butter corn, Kaya toast, white peach verbena, Icelandic milk chocolate and Ashta. 
• The local ice cream shop has locations in Atwater Village, Fairfax, Pasadena, Sawtelle, Venice, Irvine, Costa Mesa and Torrance. 

Menu items we tried

• Ube malted crunch (malted milk, malted milkballs, and ube) 
• Stick rice and mango (rice milk, coconut cream, salt, Alphonso mangoes)
• White peach verbena (peach, lemon verbena)

What should we try next?

An Orange County Superior Court judge this week found that Orange County Board of Education member Marilyn “Mari” Barke failed to report millions of dollars in assets and income in her annual economic disclosure filings over multiple years.

Barke will have to pay nearly $82,000 in penalties, as well as attorneys’ fees, according to a proposed decision statement. The fees could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What’s next? 

State court rules allow parties 15 days to file objections to the proposed decision. After that, the court will be able to enter a final judgment.

About the case

Barke was elected to the OC Board of Education in 2018, and she currently serves as a board trustee. She is also the director of coalitions at the California Policy Center, an educational non-profit.

Under the California Political Reform Act, local elected officials are required to disclose their income, investments and other assets.

Barke filed amended financial statements for 2018 through 2021, following a complaint by private citizen made in February 2023. The Fair Political Practices Commission in 2024 found Barke liable on 16 counts for failing to report that income. Barke agreed to a settlement and paid a $3,200 penalty.

The judge later found that the FPPC’s settlement did not fully address the “willfulness/recklessness” or “adequacy of corrective efforts,” according to the proposed decision statement from Orange County Superior Court Judge H. Shaina Colover.

According to the court records, Barke argued that the mistakes in her filings were because she was following the advice of her now ex-husband, Dr. Jeff Barke, who she says advised her that the filings only needed to list economic interests if they conflicted with her role on the board.

Colover's response was that Barke’s reliance on that alleged advice was objectively unreasonable and wrong.

The response

Lynne Riddle, a retired judge who filed the complaint, said in a statement that financial interest disclosures are critical to the public.

“When elected officials flout their disclosure obligations like this, it undermines the public's right to honest and ethical government,” stated Riddle, who has published op-eds about charter schools and the OC Board of Education. “The Court’s decision vindicates the public’s right to know what their elected officials are doing.”

Riddle said the ruling and penalties should send a clear message that elected officials cannot shirk their responsibilities to disclose their economic interests.

Barke’s lawyer, Mark Rosen, in a statement to LAist, said: "From the start, this case was a vendetta against Mrs. Barke because she supports charter schools."

“As a first-time candidate, she made some technical mistakes in her forms with the Fair Political Practices Commission, and she freely admitted and corrected those mistakes and paid a fine,” Rosen said. “The anti-charter schools gang then piled on with this frivolous lawsuit.”

There are mistakes in the court’s decision, and “we are exploring a further course of action,” Rosen added.