ROCHESTER, N.Y. \u2014\u00a0Anyone who has gone through the process of legally changing their name knows it can take some time. A clinic is helping people trying to begin that change navigate through the process.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The organization the Next Generation Men of Transition partners with the Empire Justice Center and JustCause, to host a free name change clinic in recognition of Transgender Day of Visibility
\n
Participants will receive one-on-one assistance from legal professionals, including guidance on completing paperwork, understanding fee waivers, and navigating the court process
\n
Organizers hope its clients use this clinic to take the steps to continually affirm who they are legally, especially with the protections provided across New York state<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is extremely important because the individuals that we’re helping here today are going to be able to be their authentic selves legally,\u201d JustCause supervising attorney Kristin Johnson said.<\/p>\n
A name is something we all have, but for some, the name they were given, is not one they identify with.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we think about housing, when we think about employment, when we think about just surviving, those are a lot of the barriers that trans and gender non-conforming folks face every day,\u201d Next Generation Men of Transition founder Brittan Hardgers said. \u201cAnd we’re knocking those barriers down so that folks can have the ability to thrive but also be able to legally match and affirm exactly who they are with their legal documentation.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the face of these challenges, the organization the Next Generation Men of Transition partners with the Empire Justice Center and JustCause, to host a free name change clinic in recognition of Transgender Day of Visibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, we currently know the political landscape,\u201d Hardgers said. \u201cWe know who the targets are. But here in New York state, we’re standing on the protections that we have and reminding our community that they have access to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
They are supporting transgender and gender non-conforming individuals all across New York state.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current federal policy has really, made it difficult for many transgender and gender nonconforming individuals,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe’re pretty lucky that, in this state, we have rules that allow them to be able to change their names, change their genders, be their authentic selves, without these rules, without these laws that are in place, they wouldn’t be able to be who they are. This is extremely important because the individuals that we’re helping here today are going to be able to be their authentic selves legally. So working with our community partners, we’re able to provide not just legal services but additional services and supports in the community. We’re very lucky to be part of not only a very large legal community here in Rochester, but also a large, Health and Human Services community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI got tired of kind of trying to navigate professional world, in a different setting than my personal world,\u201d NGMT member Landon Jones said. \u201cAnd I kind of want to not fully align. So the only way to actually do that is to actually get my name changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clients receive one-on-one assistance from legal professionals, like staff attorney Amos Hart, who has also been on both ends of navigating the court process.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m trans, I did a name change for myself and I can’t measure the difference that it’s made in my life. It’s one of the happiest things that you can do as a lawyer is help someone affirm their identity,\u201d Empire Justice Center LGBTQ rights staff attorney Amos Hart said.<\/p>\n
For many transgender individuals, obtaining a legal name change is a critical step toward safety and living comfortably in everyday life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world is a dangerous place and trying to navigate by ourselves at this time,\u201d Jones said. \u201cSo to make sure they have the resources of people who are out here and people that can help them and people that give them support.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cIt is possible to have autonomy, even when the prospect of engaging with the courts is scary,\u201d Hart said. \u201cEven in a scary atmosphere. You still have control over how you live your life and how you present.\u201d<\/p>\n
The clinic is just one of the many resources provided as an act of advocacy and compassion.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cOne day I will be a trans elder, and I need the youth, to be empowered to continue on the work because we have always been here, we will always be here, and there’s no way to erase what you didn’t create,\u201d Hardgers said. \u201cWe lost a trans youth, not too long ago, not even a year ago. When we talk about Sam Nordquist, when we see the hate crimes right here in our own backyard. We have to be visible. We have to move in action because this is life-saving work and every human deserves dignity, respect, safety and affirmation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROCHESTER, N.Y. \u2014\u00a0Anyone who has gone through the process of legally changing their name knows it can take…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7410,2024,2025,9,11,10,49,51,50,12,115,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-182102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-adriana-loh","9":"tag-app-in-the-community","10":"tag-community-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-new-york-state","15":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","16":"tag-new-york-state-news","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-rochester","19":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}