A little more than a year ago, I filed with the California Superior court to change my name. There’s a lot involved in changing your name, but the court order is the first part of the puzzle.
The judge signed my name change decree on December 4th, 2020, and in the following days I filed the name change with the Social Security Administration. That was where the trouble began.
I won’t go into the whole story, but the local (small, conservative town) Social Security office stalled my name change application. I didn’t get my Social Security card until November. And it took filing a discrimination case against the local office to get it.
Without a Social Security card, you can’t get a new driver’s license. Without the driver’s license, you can’t change bank info, etc. It’s a cascading river of no’s and cant’s while you wait for that Social Security card.
So la dee dah and all that, but this morning I went to the DMV to apply for my license with updated name (and gender — bonus points for living in California!), and it was easy and quick. So finally, well, in a month or so, I’ll have a picture ID with my new name.
Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s been a year of my life, so I’m glad to be coming into the home stretch. Now I just have to update my banks, credit cards, and on and on.
But the hard part of proving to the world who I am is over. 🙂
