Wisconsin’s name-change law raises safety risks for transgender people (wisconsinwatch.org)

submitted 1 month ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/lgbtq_plus@beehaw.org

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Wisconsin law generally requires trans people, including children, to publish their legal name changes in a newspaper. Some worry the requirement poses a higher risk with the Trump administration’s anti-trans policies.

Lawyers working with trans people say Wisconsin’s publication requirements further endanger the trans community by creating a de facto dataset of people that some fear could be used for firing, harassment or violence.

“We live just in constant terror of the wrong person finding out that we have an 11-year-old trans child. … All it takes is one wrong person getting that information, and what we could end up going through, becoming a target, is horrifying.”

A Wisconsin law has dissuaded at least one transgender resident from going through with a legal name change. “It can put people at risk of violence and blatant discrimination simply because of who they are,” an ACLU lawyer said.

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[-] TehPers@beehaw.org 7 points 4 weeks ago

For anyone going through this, see if you can seal your name change. It's more of a pain in the ass, but only certain people can look up that you actually changed your name since it's not made public. This is easier in some places than in others of course, but should be safer.

And stay safe of course.