Transgender People Tell Their Name-Change Stories

Posted on 06. Dec, 2009 by Andrea Swalec in Sandeep Junnarkar, Uncategorized, Urban

Cashing a check or trying to sign up for a gym membership used to be an ordeal for Ricky, a 24-year-old transgender man. Bank tellers didn’t understand why his account was in “a girl’s name,” but he was trying to cash a check with “a boy’s name” on it.

“When someone would make an issue out of my name, it was not just a pain. It was like, you are violating my human right to be called what I want to be called,” said Ricky, who spoke on the condition that his last name be withheld.

Legally changing his name in August was important to Ricky not only for practical reasons, he said. “I am so happy I changed it legally, because I hated showing my ID that said my old name. It’s like, this is not me, but here you go.”

The transgender name-change process in Manhattan just got a little easier.

A New York County appeals court ruled on October 21 that a transgender person does not need a doctor’s note to change his or her name. This decision reversed a Civil Court denial of a name-change petition. (See here for more information.)

The decision could impact all of New York state, Caprice Bellefleur said by email. Bellefleur is a volunteer lawyer for the West Village Trans-Legal Clinic, which provides pro bono legal assistance to transgender people seeking to legally change their names. “Any decision that eases the [name-change] process can be used to argue for the same result across the state,” said Bellefleur.

Ricky wasn’t asked to provide a doctor’s note, maybe because his selected name was gender-neutral, he said.

“I think it’s completely unfair to require a doctor’s note to change your name,” Ricky said. “I don’t think that you need anyone else to prove that you’re really trans. I think that we should have the right to determine that for ourselves.”

Joey, who identifies as transgender and gender queer, has gone by Joey since 2001 but hasn’t made it legal yet, he said. He also spoke on the condition that his last name be withheld.

Joey, 35, began to want to legally change his name in 2006, when he started the gender transition process.

Having a “female” name on his identifying documents hasn’t caused Joey many problems, he said. “People seem to just go with the flow … Especially in New York, nobody seems to question it when a boy walks up and hands them a credit card that says Lisa on it.”

But having to present documents with his birth name on them makes Joey anxious, he said.

Legally changing his name will make everyday transactions easier, Joey said. But he doesn’t think the change will mean much to him emotionally. “I know that my name is my name.”

Tags: courts, Law, legal name change, Olin Winn-Ritzenberg, transgender, transgender issues