: Name changes :
Names can be very permanent things, second only to gender in our society. When someone goes through a gender transition, you encounter so many obstacles in changing genders that sometimes you don't realize how difficult it is just to change your name.
Try this experiment. Open up one of your regular emails you might receive from a store or an e-newsletter you've subscribed to. Use the links to go to manage your account, and try to get to a screen that allows you to change your name and gender. I would wager that a large majority of the time, you will not be able to do it. You can change your email, phone, address or preferences easily, but your name and gender are often immutable. You'd have to unsubscribe and start fresh with a new account in order to do it. Now take the hassle factor you just experienced and multiply that by a factor of 1,000 - that's the kind of obstacle that a transitioning adult faces.
Some people don't realize that you need a court order signed by a judge in order to legally change your name. They do this so that people can't keep changing their name to avoid paying bills or other devious reasons. But once you get the court order, then the real fun begins - changing all your legal documentation, such as your social security card, passport, driver's license, IRAs, bank accounts, insurance documentation... the list is endless. I literally expect to be dealing with changing things I've forgotten about for years after I finally get my court order.
Women who change their names when they get married have some idea what this is like. I was in line at the Department of Public Safety office getting a new driver's license the other day and I stood next to a young lady with a marriage certificate peeking out of a stack of papers in her arms. There are two differences in what she had to do versus what I'm going to have to do. First, although we both have the same legal standing in terms of having a court ordered name change, hers raises a lot fewer eyebrows than mine will. Second is that if she misses some opportunities to correct records, she's not likely to lose much sleep about it. But for me, to be referred to by my old name could "out" me to someone who might object to my existence. So I will need to be extra-diligent to make sure that I've covered as much of my legal "footprint" as I can.
Someone who has been alive more than 30 years as I have has built up a massive amount of information about themselves in the hands of various individuals and organizations. In this age of privacy concerns, I have a unique opportunity to create this new identity, a fully formed person who has never existed before. It's a pretty neat concept if you stop to think about it. Hasn't everyone wished at one time or another that we could make a fresh start? For me, this is a tremendous opportunity to begin my life anew, in the body and social role that I feel I should have been in all my life. I can't wait to get started.
Try this experiment. Open up one of your regular emails you might receive from a store or an e-newsletter you've subscribed to. Use the links to go to manage your account, and try to get to a screen that allows you to change your name and gender. I would wager that a large majority of the time, you will not be able to do it. You can change your email, phone, address or preferences easily, but your name and gender are often immutable. You'd have to unsubscribe and start fresh with a new account in order to do it. Now take the hassle factor you just experienced and multiply that by a factor of 1,000 - that's the kind of obstacle that a transitioning adult faces.
Some people don't realize that you need a court order signed by a judge in order to legally change your name. They do this so that people can't keep changing their name to avoid paying bills or other devious reasons. But once you get the court order, then the real fun begins - changing all your legal documentation, such as your social security card, passport, driver's license, IRAs, bank accounts, insurance documentation... the list is endless. I literally expect to be dealing with changing things I've forgotten about for years after I finally get my court order.
Women who change their names when they get married have some idea what this is like. I was in line at the Department of Public Safety office getting a new driver's license the other day and I stood next to a young lady with a marriage certificate peeking out of a stack of papers in her arms. There are two differences in what she had to do versus what I'm going to have to do. First, although we both have the same legal standing in terms of having a court ordered name change, hers raises a lot fewer eyebrows than mine will. Second is that if she misses some opportunities to correct records, she's not likely to lose much sleep about it. But for me, to be referred to by my old name could "out" me to someone who might object to my existence. So I will need to be extra-diligent to make sure that I've covered as much of my legal "footprint" as I can.
Someone who has been alive more than 30 years as I have has built up a massive amount of information about themselves in the hands of various individuals and organizations. In this age of privacy concerns, I have a unique opportunity to create this new identity, a fully formed person who has never existed before. It's a pretty neat concept if you stop to think about it. Hasn't everyone wished at one time or another that we could make a fresh start? For me, this is a tremendous opportunity to begin my life anew, in the body and social role that I feel I should have been in all my life. I can't wait to get started.
