A major change to New Jersey’s birth certificate laws went into effect Monday.

The law allows transgender residents to change their birth certificates to the gender which they identify, instead of the gender they were assigned at birth.

Jennifer Long says that she is happy that the word “female” can now appear on her birth certificate. She says that it is the latest milestone in the journey to realize her true identity.

“I’m a retired sergeant major. I did 30 years in the U.S. Army,” she says.

Long says she began taking hormones to transition from male to female even before her retirement from the Army seven years ago. The new law will allow her to change her birth certificate to match her identity – something that was not allowed before.

“You would be required to have a certification from a medical doctor that you had undergone physical surgery to change your gender, what they would also refer to as ‘lower surgery,’” she says.

New Jersey residents and those born in the state will have three options on their birth certificate: male, female and undesignated non-binary, which encompasses many forms of gender identity.

Long says that she believes the controversial change in law is revolutionary, protects privacy and helps prevent discrimination.

More information about the new law can be found on the state’s website.