Quote from: RavenMoon on October 12, 2015, 12:20:59 AM
It's not being made difficult to discriminate against transgender people. Name changing laws were around for a long time. It's so you aren't trying to avoid paying debts or running from the law. This is why they make you post a notice in the news paper.
I grew up in NJ. I've been living in NYC the past six months.
Of course. I never said that the intent was to target trans people. I did say that the current procedure makes it difficult for us, and one would think with all of the other laws (employment discrimination, easy driver license change, even firearms ID gender change etc) they would amend the name change statutes to allow trans people to change their name more easily and privately.
It should not be expensive, it should not take a long time and no one should have to essentially be ordered to be outed by the state.
A name change should never be more than a few dollars, if that. It should definitely not be $500. Poor trans people cannot afford that. That money can pay for laser, hormones, or even put food on the table.
In fact, up to about 1991 judges can and did deny people a name change because they were trans. The Eck case in the Superior Court appellate division established our right to change our name. The judge who denied her ruled that, "it is inherently fraudulent for a person who is physically a male to assume an obviously `female' name for the sole purpose of representing himself to future employers and society as a female." It was reversed on appeal and that ruling set precedent.
I know that is ancient history but so far I have not seen any amendment to the laws regarding name change for trans people. We just have that ruling. Surely they can make it better... they had all that time under Corzine, Codey and McGreevey.
