What’s in a name?

[ccharles000]

The team at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project got some news to be thankful for just before Thanksgiving last week: judges in New York State can no longer bar people from legally changing their names to traditionally “masculine” or “feminine” names simply because of the possibility of “confusion.”

It may come as a surprise to many of you that this is even an issue, but the Sylvia Rivera Law Project has been helping trans people in New York State change their names for over six years now, and believe me, name change petitions get denied for all sorts of spurious reasons. (Incidentally, I’ve been part of the collective that runs SRLP for almost as long.)

Another fact you may not be familiar with: in the United States, it’s one of your rights to change your name, enshrined in the Civil Rights Code of New York and many other states. I’d suggest that you all exercise this right early and often, but it could get to be a bureaucratic pain in the neck very rapidly.

This case, which went all the way up to the New York Supreme Court and then to appeals, upheld that right and pointed out that this right can’t be abridged for any reason save fraud, misrepresentation, or interference with the rights of others. And no, changing your name to a more traditionally “masculine” or “feminine” name doesn’t involve any of the above.

We’ve seen far too many judges react in a knee-jerk way to granting someone a legal name of the “other” gender. It’s not hard to imagine the gears turning in judicial brains: “What does this all mean? Surely this can’t be right!” Actually, a name is just a name, and as long as you aren’t trying to escape from debtors, or impersonate someone else to steal their credit card, you can change it to whatever you want. And that’s all it means. Some judges have asked for medical evidence, like a letter from a doctor or a psychiatrist, to prove that trans people’s name changes are for a “valid reason.” (I’ll give you one guess what the most common and traditional “valid reason” for changing your name is, one that’s never challenged.) But again — you don’t need a reason to change your name. You don’t need a doctor’s letter. It’s your choice what name to use, officially.

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2008/12/04/whats-in-a-name-4/

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I'm glad this is being allowed

I've changed my name for that "most common and traditional 'valid reason'", and considered changing my first and middle names as well, after taking initiation in a Sufi order. But after 911, I felt it would not be wise to do so, so I still use what I call my "birth aliases". I bet transgender people understand what I mean by that term.

[Ian David]

2. Yeah, but on the other hand, I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named Sue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M89c3hWx3RQ

[DarkTirade]

3. Until my little sister could pronounce the H at the beggining of words, that was my name...

:P

[bluedawg12]

4. Thank you for posting this info!

[elshiva]

5. Thank you for posting this.

:loveya: :loveya: