Hi everyone. I'm newly out from lurking and I've been brought out by a question. I have a situation going on and no matter how I tilt my head at it I cannot decide what to do. I'm ftm, on T, and I'm in the position of having to look for a new job. I pass reliably and in social interactions always supply my real name, never my legal name. However, having my name changed legally is prohibitively expensive where I live. I need to do it, but I can't do it until I've obtained another job. So I am faced with the task of job-hunting with an awkward legal name going on.
When I fill out an application am I obligated to put my legal name in the "name" box, so long as I supply my legal name somewhere? I am not actually sensitive about who knows whether or not I'm trans, but I am absolutely adamant about being addressed the proper way and I will not wear a name tag with my legal name on it. After being on T for a while, it... doesn't look appropriate to me. I had a great deal of trouble over it at my last job and several instances of confused heckling by customers. Basically, I don't care what goes on any administrative paperwork at this point because I know what it'll have to be, but on the front end I need to be addressed by my real name and proper pronouns, and the only way to do this is to out myself. How should I best represent this as I am applying for a job?
ps. I'm not asking for legal advice and I acknowledge that what I'm asking is for casual advice. I'll be calling a group that can help me in a more formal way later. Thanks to everyone.
