Legally Changing Names Easier for Transgender New Yorkers
October 22, 2009
On Wednesday a panel of three judges on a New York State appeals court ruled unanimously to reverse the decision of a lower court which had barred Olin Yuri Winn-Ritzenberg, a self-identified transgender man, from obtaining a legal name change.
According to the Gothamist blog, Civil Court Judge Manuel J. Mendez denied Winn-Ritzenberg’s request last February based on the absence of documentation confirming the need for a name change from a physician, psychologist, or social worker.
The Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund helped connect Winn-Ritzenberg with a lawyer to handle the legalities of the request through its Name Change Project. Upon receiving Mendez’ ruling, TLDEF filed an appeal on Winn-Ritzenberg’s behalf. TLDEF executive director Michael Silverman argued in the appeal that “while most name change petitions sail through the court system, Olin’s was denied because he is transgender.”
The New York Times’ CityRoom blog, one of the few mainstream blogs to cover the case, reported that about 10 other Manhattan residents have previously approached TLDEF after having their name-change petitions denied for the same reason.
In TLDEF’s press release in May, Winn-Ritzenberg voiced a sentiment that many transgender petitioners identify with in these cases:
“My gender transition has been a very personal journey, and no one is in a better position to decide that I need to change my name than I am. It’s also important to me to protect my privacy. I don’t want my medical records in a public court file.”
Wednesday’s brief but powerful Appeals Court ruling insisted upon equal treatment of transgender petitioners, stating:
“There is no sound basis in law or policy to engraft upon the statutory provisions an additional requirement that a transgendered-petitioner present medical substantiation for the desired name change.”
In its most recent press release, TLDEF lauds Winn-Ritzenberg for choosing to fight this legal battle rather than complying with the court order, thereby “ending the practice of subjecting transgender name change applicants to this burdensome and demeaning doctor’s note requirement.”
This ruling will not necessarily bear weight in cases of filing for a legal gender change, but will ensure that transgender people in New York have equal access to legal name changes in the future.
The Advocate quotes Winn-Ritzenberg as saying, “This ruling means that I can finally change my name and move forward with my life.”
GLAAD will continue to keep you updated with the latest media coverage of these and other exciting victories for the LGBT community.
Related Posts:As Hate Crimes Continue, Need for LGBT Protections Increases
October 13, 2009
This weekend’s widely publicized National Equality March called on activists and government officials alike to take action to end inequality.
Already at least one issue of LBGT equality appears very close to resolution – the expansion of federal hate crime legislation to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. One accomplishment that President Obama shared at the HRC Gala Dinner on Friday evening included the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act through the House of Representatives last week, as reported by The New York Times last Thursday. Attached to the National Defense and Authorization Act of 2009 in July, the bill is now expected to pass the Senate as well, and land on the President’s desk within the week.
The Colorado Independent quoted the bill’s cosponsoring Congresswoman Diana Degette (D-CO):
When signed by President Obama, this will be the first federal law specifically protecting LGBT Americans. This Act will provide state and local law enforcement agencies with resources they need to investigate and prosecute hate crimes, while also protecting the exercise of free speech under our Constitution.
However, no sooner had the march concluded in Washington, D.C. than The New York Times and the New York Daily News were back reporting on the beating of a gay man in College Point, Queens as he left his neighborhood deli early Friday morning. The man is being treated for a fractured jaw, ribs, and lacerated spleen but is now in stable condition. Police have categorized the assault as a hate crime based on New York State legislation, which does classify crimes motivated by a victim’s sexual orientation as hate crimes.
There is currently no similar classification, at either the state or national level, for crimes motivated by a victim’s gender identity. This gaping legal hole was most recently exposed by the verbal and physical attacks endured by Carmella Etienne, a transgender woman who shared her story of assault at last week’s Transgender Hate Crimes panel in Brooklyn. Etienne, also attacked in her own neighborhood in Queens, had rocks and empty beer bottles hurled at her by a group of young men, who taunted her with antigay and transphobic slurs. As The New York Times’ CityRoom blog reports:
The attackers’ use of homophobic slurs could be used to prosecute them under New York State’s hate crime law, but the taunts about her gender identity would not be covered under that statute.
Similarly, when 22-year-old Lateisha Green was shot last year in a car in Syracuse simply for being a transgender woman, her attack could only be categorized as a hate crime based on the antigay slurs from her assailant.
According to Michael Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represented both Carmella Etienne and the Green family, a “hate crime charge could mean the difference between a one-day jail sentence and a minimum three-and-a-half-year sentence.”
We will continue to keep you informed about media coverage of inclusive hate crimes legislation at both national and state levels.
Related Posts:Transgender Hate Crimes Panel Provides Personal Stories as well as Advocacy Insight
October 8, 2009
Wednesday evening’s panel on transgender hate-crimes in Brooklyn, New York, covered a range of perspectives and issues as victims, their families, and advocates discussed both their direct experience with bias-motivated crime and their work to educate the media, the government and law enforcement about gender identity and expression and anti-transgender crimes.
The event began with GLAAD’s own Senior Media Strategist Andy Marra and the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund’s executive director Michael Silverman relating the complications and they faced during their recent work in Syracuse, N.Y. during the July trial held for Lateisha Green’s murder. First, they encountered the unfortunately common problem of law enforcement officials and reporters relaying incorrect information about the victim’s identity and dress; next came the prolonged effort to ensure that the crime was investigated as a hate crime and given the priority investigation status it merited; and finally, the complex issue of educating the media about Lateisha Green’s transgender identity while fighting in court, out of necessity, for a conviction under the category of a hate-crime committed on the basis of sexual orientation.
As explained in the Appendix of TLDEF’s Violence Against Transgender People Resource Kit, while New York State law classifies it as a hate crime for an individual to target and attack a victim because of the victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, it does not explicitly make it a hate crime for an individual to attack another because of the victim’s gender identity or expression. The Boy in Bushwick blog quoted Michael Silverman describing how lawyers had to construct a “narrative that Teish was gay or lesbian to achieve a conviction.”
Federal law currently offers no recourse in that area either, though that seems about to change within just a few weeks when the Senate is expected to pass the new Defense Authorization bill with the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act attached – which will expand the existing federal hate crime law to include crimes motivated by gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.
The discussion then quickly moved to the first-hand experiences of Lateisha’s mother Roxanne Green, brother Mark Cannon (also shot by Lateisha’s killer that night), and friends, who all conveyed their great love for and pride in Lateisha. Mrs. Green spoke very movingly about her constant concern for her daughter as she grew up, as well as her constant support for her, [advising] parents to always support their children no matter who they are “because once they’re gone, Lord knows there’s no turning back.”
Another client of TLDEF’s, Carmella Etienne, shared her more recent trauma of being attacked with rocks and beer bottles as she walked home from her neighborhood grocery store in Queens this July. She recalled feeling most scarred not by the physical objects or the transphobic slurs being hurled at her, but rather by the lack of aid from onlookers and the 20 minutes she spent waiting for police assistance.
One of the major take-aways from the conversation was that there is no one single reason for the perpetration and general tolerance of crimes motivated by anti-transgender bias. It is not simply transphobia, or sexism alone at work, but rather the way that those issues are intertwined with issues of classism and racism that have allow crimes such as these to continue in our communities. But speaking out about these experiences and intersections will go a long way toward solving these problems.
The panel was moderated by Ejay Carter, the Empire State Pride Agenda’s Transgender Rights Program Organizer. The event was organized by Laura Vogel, a Legal Fellow at TLDEF and third year law student at Brooklyn Law School and cosponsored by Brooklyn Law School, Empire State Pride Agenda, GLAAD, Queens Pride House, Anti-Violence Project, and the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA).
Related Posts:TONIGHT – Transgender Hate Crimes Panel Discussion
October 7, 2009
Transgender Hate Crimes: Victims, Their Families & Advocates Speak Out
Wed, Oct 7th, 7pm
Brooklyn Law School, Forchelli Conference Center
205 State Street, Brooklyn
(Free and open to the public.)
GLAAD is pleased to participate in this evening’s community conversation about the violence that is perpetrated against people because of their gender identity or expression, and strategies to prevent and respond to it.
Our Senior Media Strategist Andy Marra will join Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund executive director Michael Silverman and Empire State Pride Agenda transgender rights program organizer Ejay Carter in discussing this hate-motivated violence and the status of gender identity and expression in federal and state hate crime laws. The family of Lateisha Green, the 22-year-old transgender woman whose death led to New York State’s first hate crime trial and conviction will be present along with two of TLDEF’s current clients, Leslie Mora and Carmella Etienne (who were each victims of separate hate crimes in Queens) to speak about their experience with such violence.
In July, GLAAD helped spotlight the guilty verdict announced in the trial held for Lateisha Green’s shooting. Andy Marra was on the ground in Syracuse, NY working closely with family, media outlets, TLDEF and Empire State Pride Agenda to ensure fair, accurate, and inclusive media coverage of the case.
TLDEF’s media advisory for the event cites statistics from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs that show murders of LGBT people in 2008 increased 28% from the previous year and that on average, a transgender person is murdered once a month in the United States.
We hope to see you at tonight’s event and will continue to update you regarding media coverage of crimes motivated by anti-LGBT bias.
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