On Jan. 28, a group of transgender people did something that many of them had done already—they filed name changes. This time, however, the paperwork was not for them, but for eight other gender-variant people new to the process.
The day marked the launch of The Name Change Mobilization, a project of the Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois ( TJLP ) , an organization that provides transgender people with free criminal defense and other legal services. Every last Friday of the month in 2011, TJLP attorneys, interns and volunteers plan to assist gender-variant people in legally changing their names. Jan. 28 marked the first of those days, and TJLP advocates at the Richard J. Daley Center appeared excited.
"We're trying to help folks feel fabulous and amazing and not restricted," said Owen Daniel-McCarter, a TJLP attorney who developed the idea for the project in conversations with young people at Broadway Youth Center ( BYC ) .
At a small table on the 12th floor, TLJP interns and volunteers sat waiting for new applicants. Two volunteers translated paperwork, written in English, into Spanish. At the counter behind them, a TJLP advocate stood waiting with an applicant. Daniel-McCarter described the scene as "joyous."
"So many of the folks who are helping do name changes have gone through the name changes themselves," he said. Daniel-McCarter said TJLP wants transgender to be able to support each other through the process, rather than relying on attorneys, judges and clerks.
"The fact that you even have to go through a process to change our names is really complicated," said Daniel-McCarter. Daniel-McCarter said that a host of barriers at the Daley Center from the possibility of encountering transphobic judges, to a building full of police, lawyers and judges, can discourage transgender people from changing their names, especially transgender people who have been incarcerated before. Further, Illinois name changes cost more than 500 dollars, money that many gender-variant people don't have.
"A lot of trans folks are low-income or no-income because of systemic discrimination," Daniel-McCarter said. Along with helping file name changes, TJLP interns showed applicants how to file fee waivers. The organization also paid for necessary copies and notarizations.
Most who applied for name changes with TJLP assistance were paired with volunteer advocates, but McCarter and TJLP attorney Avi Rudnick remained on hand to help with more difficult cases.
But more important than logistics, said Baylie Roth, a TJLP intern, is the backing of other transgender people through the process. "It's scary here," said Roth, pointing up and down the tall hallway on the 12th floor, the constant clicking of high heels and leather shoes behind him. "It's just nice to have folks support you, to know that there are just people who understand here for you." �
McCarter expects that TJLP will help 100-150 people change their names in 2011.Those interested in volunteering for the mobilization or changing their names can e-mail namechange@tjlp.org or visit www.tjlp.org .
