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Hi, and welcome to another episode of the trans 101 series. Today, we are going to be talking about legal transition.
I've talked about many different types of transitioning and transitions- um,
Within this series. I have talked about medical transition, I've talked about social transition, and I've talked about natural transition.
Today, we are focusing on the legal aspect of transitioning, and what I mean by that is really
Documents and papers, birth certificates, passports, IDs, gender marker changes, name changes, and all that. So if you're looking for an answer
Into oh, how do I change my name, how do I change my gender marker?
this is not a question that I can answer and I'm telling you this at the beginning of this video because
Every single state, and every single province, and every single country has a different way of doing it
Yes, there might be some similarities, but it's different everywhere
So the way that I was able to change my name and gender marker is not going to be the same as somebody who lives
In Ohio that can change your gender marker or their name
but what I want to talk about is the importance of these documents and
the kind of
Bureaucracy that trans people have to go through and just so that some people who are not trans or maybe just allies are just
Question- questioning individuals- just to understand some of the things that we have to go through, um, as part of our transition
So that's why I'm labeling this as your legal transition. So usually trans people pick a new name
They either have someone help name them, or they have a name that's very close to their birth name,
Or they have- they've chosen a completely different name, random, that doesn't have to do with anything.
So most trans people will want to change their name legally, and you want to change your name legally because you want your cards on
your ID to match the name that you go by
this is important for a lot of people because when you go to the doctors and they look at your ID,
a lot of people don't want the people looking at the name that is very "feminine", or
And I'm saying "feminine" in quotations because what are names, they're just words
They'll look down, and they'll see a name that says, let's see- just say, Jessica
and then you look up and the person has-
Looks like me. Like that- th- that would make a lot of people uncomfortable at the tr- like that would make me uncomfortable
And that's why I changed my name because I didn't want to go to the doctor and keep having to hear the name that I wasn't
associating myself with. Now, you don't have to change your name legally if you don't want, some people choose to never change their name and
that is completely fine, some people choose to keep their birth name because they're very ambiguous and
Androgynous and gender-neutral and that's fine too, but for the people who want to change their name, like I have,
It was very important for me to
legally do it and- and- and the- the-
The moment that everything is sent in and you get everything back, and it's approved that your name is now changed
It's such an empowering day
because it's
It's almost like you feel like your life can start, and there are so many things that you can do now. You can now apply for
A passport, if you didn't have one, you can update your driver's license
You can update your medicare card, you could update all of your cards, all- everything, your school ID and everything so that it can match
Who you actually are. And this is the same thing for gender marker changes. Now,
I know a lot of people that don't want to get their gender marker changed, and that is completely fine
This was such an important thing for me because I was so tired of getting mail that said Mrs.
Chase Ross and I was like
Who are these- anyways, it just got so annoying, and I really wanted my passport
And I really wanted my ID to match who I am, and one of the big reasons is because one
I travel a lot, and I never- I never wanted to deal with
Having to go with the passport that said female, and I look like this, and I will say that I have
gone and travelled with
Documents that have my old name and my old gender marker and I look like this, and it was very uncomfortable
I actually travelled from Canada to United States to Scotland, um, under a passport, even though
I look like - it was fine, nothing had happened, but it was very uncomfortable for me
I did not want to show my passport to the individuals who were looking at the passport and I also
Couldn't show my passport to anyone because they didn't know I was trans, like, it was just very hard for me
To go through life like that because I do travel a lot
And I do use those IDs a lot. So, the significance of a legal transition for a lot of people, remember,
This is my trans experience, and I'm talking about a lot of experiences that I have seen in front of me
but I do not talk for the trans community, but for me the
the- s- the- the- the
Moment that all of your papers are done the symbolic
aspect of legal transition is very empowering, because
Once you get your name and your gender marker change you're kind of done, all of your legal documents
Usually you're able to change all of your other things. Now, yes, it is different in a lot of states. In some states
They make you change like your social security number, and then you can't change your driver's license or something weird like that
Here it was very simple- heh, "simple"
I'm doing that quotations because... you change your birth certificate
And then you can change all of your other cards later on, doesn't that just make sense?
I'm saying it was a little more complicated for me because
back when I changed my name, you needed to publish your name in the newspaper, twice, once, a- once a week for two weeks and
You had to pay for that, and you had to pay for a name change, and first you even had to submit a pre-application
To tell them why you want to change your name, and
Trans wasn't- like being trans or changing your name wasn't a thing that you can click off, you have to explain, in a big paragraph,
Why you want to change your name,
And why it causes you distress.
So you do that, then they send you the papers back, then you apply, you put your name in the newspaper
And all this stuff, and then you finally get it back and then you get a certificate
And they say within the 30 days you will or may not
Get your- your new
name change
Certificate because they want to see if you're trying to escape the law, and so we have 30 days for people to like look you up
to see if the name that you're going by the name that you were going by before
Is like you're trying to escape the law. And it's very nerve-wracking because your name gets put in the newspaper, your old name,
So it would say, "birth name is changing their name to Chase Ross,
Who lives on-" and then my whole address, my phone number, my postal code, and everything, it was- it was- it's terrifying
Bless that that is not a thing that we need to do in Quebec anymore
Fantastic. The gender marker change was very hard too- and I'm telling you these stories
just so that you can see some of the things that we have to go through, and it's just not fair, honestly, because
We have to go through so much
So much in life, and the legal transition aspect should be so easy. It should be like oh, I'm trans, here,
Let me click this off on one piece of paper and everything gets changed, but instead you have places like in Quebec
Where you need to have a hysterectomy in order to change your gender marker.
Thank God that is no longer a thing, they changed it,
I was able to get my gender marker changed with just top surgery. I have no idea how I was able to do that
I don't know anyone else who was able to get that done before they changed the law
But the fact that I even sent in my application
And I had to get a doctor to sign a letter for me, and I had to get another doctor to write
specific stuff, and I had to send an application, send money, and if it was denied
I would lose all of that money
It is very, very stressful
And I know that there are a lot of places in the United States where you actually have to appear in court
In order to change your name and your gender marker
And I know that some places- [sighs] I don't remember which country this is, I feel like it's Colombia
You have- is it Colombia?
I think so. Where you have to sue your parents in order for you to be able to change your gender marker.
I may be wrong on the country
So please don't quote me on that, but I feel like it was Colombia. And then there are other p-
I actually feel like maybe it was Poland. I know, completely other sides of the world. I know, I'm sorry
I sh- I don't remember, I just... yeah
Let's just leave it that. And then there are some places where you can change your name
But your birth name will always be on your birth certificate
Don't leave it put it on the back or it's still going to be there in parentheses
So it's almost like they make it hard,
super, super hard for trans people to change their name and their gender marker and is a lot of
Gatekeeping because it does cost a lot of money to change your name and gender marker. In total my entire legal transition cost me about
$800, from changing my name, to changing my gender marker, to getting two passports, to getting
Um, new cards, all of this stuff in the newspaper, getting somebody to I needed to get, like a- an, a- someone- an oath
I had to like sign an oath
And I had to pay the person money in order for them to verify that all my information was correct
Transition aspect while I was in university
And I would wait for calls from the government while I was in class, and when a call would come in,
I had would have to dash out of class and be like, "hello, hello", where I even had a government official
I promise you this is not. I'm not lying
a person from the Government of Quebec
Literally said to me
"Um, you need a penis to be a man"
I was asking if I can change my gender marker with top surgery, and he tells me that I need to have a penis
Basically I need to have bottom surgery in order to change my gender marker
This was so scarring for me
And I'm a person that can deal with a lot of things, because a lot of things have happened to me, and I'm okay
But I can only imagine how traumatic that could be for some people
Anyways, this is all to say
I just wanted to explain a little bit, umbrella term, of legal transition. There are different aspects to it
But I can't get into everything right now. If you want more
Information on how to change your name or how to change your gender marker,
wherever you are, I will try to put as many links as I can in the description below, and
um, as always with these transition videos and the different types of transition
you know, even if a person's name is not changed, respect their name and
even if their gender marker isn't changed, respects their pronouns.
I feel like this is just like, it's like, the basics of being a decent human being, just respect other people. Anyways, thank you
So much for joining me. I will see you later. Have a great day. Bye
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