PA Legislative Caucus Unveils Legislation Making Name Changing Easier For LBGTQ+ Community

HARRISBURG — A caucus of legislators from the Pennsylvania General Assembly have announced legislation geared toward making name changing easier for members of the LGBTQ+ community, a proposal that also seeks to remove an individual's sex designation on a birth certificate issued by the commonwealth.

The bipartisan, bicameral LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, which consists of members of both the state House and Senate, announced the legislative measure on Thursday.

"There are countless ways that navigating the world as a transgender person can be difficult and even painful," caucus member Dan Frankel, a Democratic House member from western Pennsylvania, said in a statement. "The more that we can remove those unnecessary obstacles to living authentically, the better."

The legislators said the measure was spurred by a June 2021 Pennsylvania Senate Policy Committee hearing on the barriers in the state experienced by the transgender community.

The caucus includes state representatives and state senators from Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware, Chester, Berks and Allegheny Counties.

"Pennsylvania must do more to ensure that our transgender community is guaranteed the right to safe and authentic gender expression here in the community," Democratic State Sen. Katie Muth, of Montgomery and Chester Counties, said in a statement. "This package of legislation will finally remove some of the barriers and discrimination our LGBTQ+ community members continue to face when seeking to legally change their name."

State Rep. Brian Simms, a Democrat from Philadelphia, said that the legislation is a "health and safety issue not only for LGBTQ+ Pennsylvanians, but also for victims of abuse, the formerly incarcerated trying to rebuild a life and anyone without the means to navigate the arduous name change process."

The legislators say the proposal would create a new, administrative name-change process, which would replace what they call an outdated name change process in the court system with an administrative process that improves efficiency while ensuring due process for all individuals.

The supporters of the bill say the current process can be time-consuming, expensive and "fraught with danger for members of Pennsylvania's transgender community."

"Shifting the name change procedures in Pennsylvania from the antiquated judicial process to an administrative process will streamline this arduous task from beginning to end, while also ensuring efficiency, as well as added identity protections for the applicant," said caucus member Joe Webster, a Democratic state representative from Montgomery County.

State Rep. Emily Kinkead, a Democrat from Philadelphia, said that the current process of forcing individuals seeking a name change to appear in court, publicly advertise their intentions, and pay $500 wastes time, money and possibly endangers "our trans neighbors."

"This administration name change reform is common sense, and it serves justice," Kinkead said in a statement.

In addition to the name change reform, the legislation would also remove sex from birth certificates all together. It says that an individual's sex, however, would still be reported on the U.S. Standard Certificate of Live Birth system, which is used for medical and statistical data collection.

Webster, the Democratic state rep from Montgomery County, said removing sex designations on birth certificates would protect the privacy of individuals requesting the vital document while also guarding against discrimination.

"Everyone experiences gender differently and recording it on a government document only causes further discriminatory practices against the LGBTQ+ community," Webster stated.

The bill would also provide transgender name change assistance grants and eliminate the two-year waiting period for a name change for those convicted of felonies.