TRENTON – Governor Phil Murphy and Chief Innovation Officer Beth Simone Noveck today announced, on International Transgender Day of Visibility,  the launch of Transgender.NJ.gov—a new, one-stop hub designed to aid New Jersey’s transgender and non-binary community in finding information about essential programs and services.

The website’s initial version contains information such as how to change a name, acquire legal assistance, obtain mental health and medical support, learn about rights and legal protections, and more. Transgender.NJ.gov will be launched as a beta version, allowing it to be continually updated and enhanced based on feedback from New Jerseyans and community stakeholders who use the site.

“Across the country, the transgender and non-binary community often face barriers to accessing needed services. In New Jersey, we must ensure that we are leading the nation by making a concerted effort to streamline and simplify access to important services, programs, and protections,” said Governor Murphy. “Transgender.NJ.gov is a critical step to making information more transparent and easier to access, while improving the delivery of services to this community that deserves full and equal treatment and protection.”

The announcement of the beta release of the site follows extensive outreach and engagement with the transgender and non-binary community to better understand how people engage with government and the challenges they face. More than two dozen community groups provided feedback, and helped distribute user-needs surveys to more than 100 New Jerseyans.

“When building programs and services for New Jerseyans, we must ensure that we’re building with the communities we’re serving – not just for them,” said New Jersey State Chief Innovation Officer Beth Simone Noveck. “As we iteratively improve Transgender.NJ.gov to make it increasingly reflective of the transgender and non-binary community’s needs, we look forward to continuing to work hand-in-hand with the New Jerseyans who will benefit from this site.”

“This Transgender Day of Visibility, we celebrate the launch of New Jersey’s Transgender Information Hub,” said Christian Fuscarino, Executive Director of Garden State Equality. “As more state governments around the country seek to take rights away from trans people, it becomes even more important for New Jersey to keep demonstrating what it looks like for a state government to support its trans population. By improving access to services and resources that will materially improve the lives of trans New Jersey residents, the Garden State continues to lead the nation on trans equality.”

The release of Transgender.NJ.gov builds on the Murphy Administration’s efforts to strengthen protections and services for the transgender and non-binary community. During his first year in office, Governor Murphy signed a package of bills expanding rights and protections for the LGBTQIA+ community, including enabling birth certificates to be amended to reflect the person’s gender identity, enabling gender identity to be reflected on death certificates, and establishing the state’s Transgender Equality Task Force.

Last year, Governor Murphy signed Executive Order No. 311 to strengthen name change confidentiality protections, as well as Executive Order No. 295 to establish state certification of LGBTQ+ owned businesses. Further, Governor Murphy also signed into law a bill codifying marriage equality to ensure gender neutrality of all marriage and civil union laws in New Jersey.

Transgender.NJ.gov is also part of the broader Resident Experience Initiative (“ResX”)—funded via the federal American Rescue Plan—to streamline, simplify, and improve how New Jersey delivers benefits and services to residents. The initiative is an expansion of efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic to use human-centered design and agile development practices, including the development of “intent-based” mini-websites, such as COVID19.NJ.gov, that act as single points of entry to government information for specific populations or for specific needs.

To visit Transgender.NJ.gov, click here. ]