GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It can be a lengthy process to change your name legally, especially for people in the LGBTQ+ community.
Ximon Kittok, the executive director of the Grand Rapids Trans Foundation, went through the process themself within the last couple of years.
“Changing your name is sort of a rite of passage,” they said. “Since so many names are very gendered one way or another, depending on how you feel and how you would like to best express yourself in the world, sometimes a gendered name in one direction when you feel very much in a different direction can be a really jarring experience.”
Now, they’re helping others navigate the process.
“Takes about three to four months to get through, so it’s not a super quick process,” Kittok said. “We’ve helped about 170 trans people through this process, so we know the system as it stands now pretty well. And it really is a very confusing, bureaucratic, lengthy, expensive process.”
In Michigan, people who want to change their name after getting married must get a certified copy of their marriage certificate, which can cost anywhere from $15 to $30. Then, they can update their driver’s license or state ID for around $10.
However, changing your name for reasons outside of marriage is much more costly.
In Kent County, you must be a resident for a minimum of one year before changing your name.
The cost includes a $187 filing fee, a $110 publication fee and a fingerprinting fee that varies.
Now, a Michigan representative plans to introduce legislation to remove the barriers she says currently exist.
“The process of changing your name outside of when you get married, it’s really onerous. It’s frankly confusing, it’s expensive,” Speaker Pro Tempore Laurie Pohutsky said.
Pohutsky, who represents Michigan’s 17th district, says the current process to change one’s name disproportionately impacts the LGBTQ+ community, particularly those who identify as trans.
She plans to introduce legislation this fall to change that.
“There’s required fingerprinting, despite the fact that a judge can run a background check in the courtroom if deemed necessary. A hearing is required, even if it’s a very, you know, ordinary, unremarkable instance, there’s a requirement that the name change be published in a newspaper, which again puts a schedule on it. But then sometimes sets the entire proceedings back. It’s also expensive,” Pohutsky said.
“It would be a game changer for our organization. If this legislation was introduced and passed, I think it would allow us to help a larger amount of people,” Kittok added.
According to a survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality, only nine percent of respondents in Michigan reported that all of their IDs had the name and gender they preferred. Meanwhile, 81 percent said that none of their IDs had the name and gender they preferred.
