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Transition

Whakawhitinga ā-pāpori

Lots of transgender and gender diverse people transition from being seen as their sex assigned at birth to being seen as their gender. Everyone's transition is unique – there’s no "right" way to transition.

Transition can include both social and medical elements. People can take different steps in their transition at different times. For example, social elements don't have to come before medical elements.

Social transition

Social transition can include a person changing their gender expression, like their hair and clothing. It can also include a person changing their name and pronoun, and "coming out" to those around them.

Support networks for transgender people & their whānau can help you with information about clothing, styling, hair removal, safe binding, packing, tucking and padding, social groups and other useful information.

Medical transition

Medical transition can include medical treatments like hair removal, hormone replacement therapy or various surgeries.

See Gender affirming health care and Gender affirming health services for more information about medical transition, what's available locally and how to access these services.

Changing your name and gender in legal documents

Naming New Zealand provides information and sometimes financial help to transgender, gender diverse and intersex youth to help them update their identity documents to correctly reflect their sex and gender information.

The links below have information about updating your birth certificate, passport, driver licence and the motor vehicle register.

Also see how to change your name and gender marker in your health records.

HealthInfo recommends the following pages

Ministry of Justice – Change sex on your birth certificate
Information about applying to the family court to change the sex on your birth certificate.
Department of Internal Affairs – Information for transgender applicants
Information about citizenship and passport policies for transgender applicants as well as information about the legal requirements to change the sex on your birth certificate.
Department of Internal Affairs Identity and Passports – Information about changing sex / gender identity
Information about applying for a passport in your preferred gender identity.
New Zealand Transport Agency – Changing the gender details on your driver licence record
Information about how to change your gender on the driver licence register or the motor vehicle register.

Written by Ko Awatea gender-affirming care co-design group. Adapted by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed March 2023.

Sources

The information in this section comes from the following sources, some of which may be clinically complex or not available to the general public

Center for Primary Care Harvard Medical – School terminology related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and more, retrieved February 2019.

Clark TC, Lucassen MF, Bullen P, et al. The health and well-being of transgender high school students: results from the New Zealand adolescent health survey (Youth'12) (https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(13)00753-2/fulltext). Journal of Adolescent Health, Volume 55, Issue 1, 93 - 99. July 2014.

Human Rights Commission NZ – Transgender enquiry report: To be who I am. 2007.

Intersex Awareness New Zealand – What is intersex? (http://www.ianz.org.nz/what-is-intersex/), retrieved February 2019.

Ministry of Health – Transgender New Zealanders (https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/healthy-living/transgender-new-zealanders/health-care-transgender-new-zealanders), retrieved February 2019.

Oliphant J, Veale J, Macdonald J, Carroll R, Johnson R, Harte M, Stephenson C, Bullock J. Guidelines for gender affirming healthcare for gender diverse and transgender children, young people and adults in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Transgender Health Research Lab, University of Waikato, 2018.

Olson KR, Durwood L, DeMeules M, et al. Mental Health of Transgender Children Who Are Supported in Their Identities. Pediatrics. 2016;137(3):e20153223. March 2015.

Rainbow Youth – Useful Words (https://ry.org.nz/friends-whanau/useful-words/), retrieved February 2019.

Yogyakarta principles, retrieved February 2019.

Image and embedded video sources

Image of parent holding child by Joseph Gonzalez on Unsplash. April 2019.

Image of person having counselling from The Gender Spectrum Collection. April 2019.

Image of person writing on clipboard from The Gender Spectrum Collection. April 2019.

Image of medical person from The Gender Spectrum Collection. April 2019.

Image of two people hugging in front of a wall by Eye for Ebony on Unsplash. April 2019.

Image of two people in an office from The Gender Spectrum Collection. April 2019.

Image of two people reading from The Gender Spectrum Collection. April 2019.

Image of two young people having fun in outdoor area by Annie Spratt on Unsplash. April 2019.

See also:

Gender-affirming health services

Page reference: 615610

Review key: HISOG-53214