another reason ohio sux

[mickiejr1815]

this state is so untrans friendly, it's unbelievable. soon i plan on changing my name, i have always wanted, even when i was little. i have the most common male name in the universe and i abhor it. i always will. my middle name is even worse. all i heard growing up was why don't you be like your grandpa, your father is pretty much worthless, that's why we named you after them. great, i am so glad you gave me the name of one of the men you hate the most. gee thanks mom. i really didn't feel loved by her all that much anyway, more than once she told me she had wanted a little girl and grams got her little boy. my mother never forgave her for that and still this day tries to get me thrown in jail. but anyway, i want to change my name. wonderful ohio, oh well it can't be private, i need it to be private, i have two kids to worry about. i am going to spend all this money on becoming who i really am, and the courts want me to tell every1 in the tri-state area, not that it's enough that we have to explain it at HR at work, our spouses, the dmv, the cops when we get pulled over, i really don't want my mother to know cause they post your freakin' address when they publish junk like that. it really pisses me off that we live in a country where privacy is supposed to be protected, but i know like the rest of us, we're all "freaks of nature" and have no rights when it comes to anything. what a bunch of ->-bleeped-<-. this just keeps getting better for me all the time, i don't think anyone in this area therapist wise has a clue about ts, we don't have any endos who prescribe for them maybe maybe not the only two are listed for diabetes which both of my parents have, they won't change the name or gender on my birth certificate, only "amend" it, anyone smart enough with a computer can pull up old birth records, i mean they make movies where children crack the national security codes, so that task would be miniscule. as if it wasn't punishment enough to grow up in the wrong body, they have throw in all this bullcrap too.


Mickie

[tekla]

The legal requirement for publishing name changes dates to a time long before people were changing names for gender reasons.  It has to do with establishing a legal paper trail that creditors can follow, and making sure that you are not changing your name for reasons to defraud anyone else.

Like any legal document, its a matter of public record, and if you want to keep things private you have to keep them away from the legal system and out of the public record.

You should be able to fulfill the legal requirements by having it published in some obscure (but still valid) legal register paper.  If your local paper prints them, oh well.

But it ain't just Ohio, its everywhere just about, and its not a trans issue, its a money deal.

[tekla]

"No sane person reads those ads."  >> Those words never apply to moms or nosy neighbors either.

[mickiejr1815]

tekla you are so right, here where i live they love to watch you take out your garbage cause they find that interesting. yet i'm the freak...come on. my mother is too nosy to mind her own damned business, if i wanted to tell her i would. she doesn't understand half a normal conversation let alone if i was to tell her anything about this. renate, thanks for the advice but hell common usage doesn't make much difference when redneck gay bashing people read the news and see a guys name becoming a female. i went to school with a bunch of male pricks who think if it ain't like them it should be stopped by someone eveb if it has to be them. it was funny cuz when my parents got called for divorce court we were the only ones there, so i am hoping i will be safe in that regard.


Mickie

[tekla]

Yeah, one more reason to love the life of large urban areas, and I lived for a long time (seemed like longer) in a town of a few hundred so I know all to well the feeling of "Gosh, I don't remember what I did last night.  Better call up Mrs. Anderson, she'll know." 

[IsabelleStPierre]

Hum...

I live in a small town of 89 people...everyone knows everything about everyone else in town...there doesn't seem to be the concept of privacy at all...you forget to take your trash out and you'll get 3 or 4 calls from others in town reminding you to take out the trash!

But it also has its strong point too...it's the backwaters of the state and the local paper is the paper name changes get published in...it only comes out weekly too...and microfiche back copies of the paper...nope...online access to the paper...again nope...so it's really difficult to find anything unless you happen do know the date of publication...

My name change was close to the beginning of the court day...there were over 100 people there too at the time since they only hold court once a month with a judge that covers something like six counties. That was the hardest part...most people in the area only know me as Isabelle or Izzy...so...when they yelled out my male name and I got up and walked to the front...lets just say it wasn't the most comfortable time in my life!

Oh, and in my state they have to run your name change statement in the paper 3 times...and in this neck of the woods...everyone reads those things to get the latest dirt on other in town...they even print anyone arrested for any purpose and usually publish the home address too...talk about no privacy!

Oh, well...just my thoughts and experiences...

Peace and love,
Izzy

[tekla]

Anything that is part of a legal record can be found on LEXIS/NEXIS (and you would be amazed at the amount of 'backwoods' papers wind up in NEXIS).  You need to subscribe to it, but its pretty amazing.

[IsabelleStPierre]

Dang ...figures that technology would find someway to mess things up!!!

[tekla]

When I have off time, and I'm bored, and need money, I work for an old friend of mine who is a 'skip tracer' hired by people who are owed a lot of money (say $50K+).  And he finds close to 90% of the people he is contracted to find, and sometimes I help (its that phd in research deal).  As Muhammad Ali once said: "you can run, but ya can't hide."  And what you could do, is pretty much gone in the internet age.

[gothique11]

Name changes are also published here (in Alberta, Canada). There's a possible way around it to block the publication, but it takes an expensive lawyer and going to court for a long time. And then, even after that, wonders of wonders, you're name is still out their because all court records are public by nature. The paper that things are published in is small and rarely read by anyone. It's pretty silly, actually.

And then, to change your M to an F you have to have surgery (unless you can trick a registry into changing it, which was easier in the past but most around here have been claming down on that because it's basically "illegal" to change it without getting SRS, so one could possibly go to jail for fraud if caught. Although, i don't know of anyone going to jail for that). But, yeah, you have to get SRS first, and then get a letter from your surgeon and an independent GP who "inspects" you to see that you indeed have female genitalia and swears that under oath in a notarized letter.

Yet, the ironic thing is that you can change your AB Health Care card from an M to an F without surgery (all you need is a letter stating that you are a transsexual and undergoing treatment, so no SRS required). And you can also change your passport's gender if you have a letter from a doctor stating that you are going to have surgery in a year (so the passport is only a temp one and is taken away after a year until you provide a the letters, etc).

One thing that I hate, especially because I've had four jobs in the last year, is that I have to show my stupid ID to my employers, which they photo copy and send off to a back check company (checks to see if you're a criminal, etc). It's stupid and it sux. Although, I don't know if any of my managers noticed, and they didn't mention anything. So, *shrugs*. I also have to fill out paperwork for my criminal background check and I always put an F in the gender marker, and so far I haven't had any flack although technically I'm being fraudulent in reporting my gender and I could be fired for putting the "wrong information." Yet, I've never been fired for it.

In other provinces the laws are different. Several other provinces allow you to change your gender marker with out surgery, if you have a letter stating that you are transsexual and living as your gender full-time. The counter balance to AB is that we have some services for Trans people that other provinces don't have. So, you kind of go through the grudge of stupid rules in favor of another thing.

--natalie

[Nicky-Nicole]

Mickie,
          Hey there,I live in Ohio to.I still have a while till i need to change my name,I'd like to do it now but that's not going to happen anytime soon.I'll be going throw the same stuff as you on of these days. Ya the whole paper thing really freaks me out! I'm so worried that someone might try to do something to my wife or my son,not so much worried about me i know how to take care of my self. And I'm starting college in a few months at Kettering and so that means i start as one name and i'm going to be another by the time i graduate in a few years I don't know how thats going to work? Well keep us posted, thanks.

[Keira]

In Quebec, you've got to public is both the parliements official gazette (no joke) for two weeks
and in a local paper for two week indicating old name residing at X becomes new name. I choose one that has NO internet archives :-).

Changing marker needs SRS.

[tekla]

"i'm going to be another by the time i graduate in a few years I don't know how thats going to work"

Do your legal name change before the degree is given, and make sure the degree is in your new name.  Very few, if any, colleges or universities will issues a new degree in a new name after the fact.

P.S.  Just because the paper does not archive itself on the net, does not mean its not archived.  Nexus works by buying subscriptions and doing the indexing itself.  You might want to check on that, find a place with Lexus/Nexus access and run checks though their data base.

[Keira]

Its a very local free paper (just 30000 copies distributed in my borough). I know for a fact its not archived anywhere (even Nexxus). I'm sure the newspaper itself has archives on site, but I doubt somebody would go to that length. But, the official quebec gazette does make it possible to freely search for name change requests (but ironically enough not when they actually change it, which is also posted in the gazette, but you'd have to buy a subscrition to the gazette to be able to get that one), so there is a trail if someone goes directly to their web site and know my old name  (its not googlable or in any search engine). They don't link the old and new name there, so it could only be used as confirmation by someone who's already has some other info and knows the juridiction I changed my name in.

[tekla]

Just remember that the stated goal of may internet advocates, of which I'm one, is to have every book, every scrap of paper, every legal document - everything really, from every country - on-line and indexed (though not reachable through Google...) information is power, and power is money, so people like N/L make big money off of stuff that they & only they have access too.  Likewise credit and background check type sites.  Ten years ago only a handful of books were online, now almost anything published before WWII is up, and more are added every day.  So I doubt if its a matter of "if" it's almost certain (all things remaining equal) that its only a matter of 'when."

[mickiejr1815]

to update you all, i am still looking for a middle name, and i haven't had the chance to contact the local probate court yet to find out how much it all costs cuz i know it's not cheap. that's where i am right now, cuz i don't just want to change my first name and not my middle name it would sound stupid..lol

[Keira]

Tekla, no matter what the internet advocates say, many things will ALWAYS be offline, because nobody will digitize them, it takes money and accessibility to digitize things. I know plenty of pre WWII things not online anywhere. Everything published now may or may not find itself indexed online. I wouldn't bet on it yet. Also, if something has a copyright, the copyright owner may not want universal access to their doc without payment. So, maybe if you ammend this to IN THE FUTURE and FOR SOMEONE WILLING TO PAY and if the document has a possible monetary value, then I'll say yet its probable you could access everything.

BTW, I'm one of those internet advocates, I was in standards committees in the early 90's and I've been to plenty interop meetings all over the world.

[IsabelleStPierre]

to update you all, i am still looking for a middle name, and i haven't had the chance to contact the local probate court yet to find out how much it all costs cuz i know it's not cheap. that's where i am right now, cuz i don't just want to change my first name and not my middle name it would sound stupid..lol

Here were I live it was only $150 total including the court costs and cost to run the advertisement once per week for three weeks. Also since I've been unemployed for the past 9 months I was able to get the court to waive most of the costs...so it only cost $25 if I recall correctly...

Changing that middle name can be important too...Isabelle Edgar Saint-Pierre...excuse me...yuck!!! Not nearly as nice as Isabelle Jacqueline Saint-Pierre...ya...ya...I know...just try to fit that on the line for a credit card receipt!

Peace and love,
Isabelle St-Pierre

[mickiejr1815]

thank u Renate and Izzy, i will certainly check that out.

[IsabelleStPierre]

Hey Mickie,

I do have a question...what state were you born in?? Please don't say Ohio...please...please...

The reason I ask is that Ohio is one of those states that will not under any circumstances change the gender on their birth certificate...

Peace and love,
Isabelle St-Pierre