Indiana transgender resources

I recently went through this business in northwest Indiana, and actually it was a piece of cake. I downloaded all the necessary legal forms from the internet, represented myself, and had no hassles. The steps were:
1. File the initial document with the clerk’s office. This must be notarized. I didn’t have to give a reason why I wanted to change my name; I just needed to write the new name.
2. Advertise 3 weeks in a row in the legal notices section of the local paper. In some ways this was the most nerve-wracking, since I was only out to family and a few close friends at that point, but nobody reads this stuff. I told the local paper (The Times) what I needed to do, and they wrote everything for me. The paper sent me the appropriate paperwork and copies of the adverts. I think the fee was on the order of $50.
3. After the 3 weeks was up, I went back to court with the paper’s documents and set up my hearing date, which had to be 1 month after the last publication date.
4. I arrive at the court dressed fairly androgynously: no make-up or jewelry, loose sweater, etc. I debated a lot about what to wear and decided this was the safest course of action. As it turned out, I nearly missed my appearance, because I was the only person in the hallway, and I didn’t look like a “Brian” to the bailiff, so he kept ignoring me (which, though frustrating, was nice!).
5. The actual hearing lasted all of 5 minutes. The judge asked me to basically repeat aloud what I had written in the final form, then asked me parenthetically if this was for a “lifestyle choice” (I said yes, ma’am–this wasn’t the place to begin a debate on the nature of all this), and at last she wished me luck and I was finished.
6. I went back to the court a week later to pick up my court order and 10 certified copies, which I then used at the DMV, credit cards, etc. I think the fee for all this was about $120.
7. Right on schedule, I went full-time the following week All told, legal fees + paper fees + notary fees, it came to about $175 or so.
I hope this is helpful!

A reader writes in December 2004:

I am about to go through the name change as an M2F in Northeast Indiana.

I downloaded the forms because that is the link for the petition of name change and how I done my name change at http://m2favery.tripod.com/m2ftransition/27.html.
The page(s) will be updated as time progresses.

The information is also on my site at http://m2favery.tripod.com.

Oh, BTW, am working with my state representative on having some transgender laws passed. Currently, Indiana has no laws that protect transgender individuals.

I hope this helps a lot of Hoosiers (people from Indiana) too.