Lambda Legal Wins Case Seeking Name Change for Transgender Woman in Georgia

(Augusta, Georgia -- Thursday, September 11, 2003) At the conclusion of a hearing this morning in Augusta, a Georgia state judged granted a Richmond County transgender woman’s request to legally change her name to reflect her gender.

“This is a happy ending to a common barrier that many transgender people experience,” said Greg Nevins an Atlanta-based Senior Staff Attorney for Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represents Vickee Gatliff. “Now, Vickee will be able to write a check, use a credit card and fly on an airplane -- all things the rest of us take for granted -- without the ordeal she previously faced because she couldn’t get identification that matched her gender and her appearance.”

When Gatliff, a male to female transgender woman, first requested a name change, a judge denied her application, saying she first needed to undergo complete sex reassignment surgery.

Established medical guidelines say that people seeking sex reassignment surgery should live fully as a member of the gender to which they are transitioning. The law allows people to change their names unless there’s a reason to suspect that the name change is being requested to commit criminal fraud, according to Lambda Legal.

“There’s no legal basis for denying name changes like this,” Nevins said. “When state judges deny these name changes, transgender people are put in a double bind - judges say they must have surgery before being granted name changes, and doctors say they have to change names before having surgery.”

Last month, Lambda Legal won a similar battle in Syracuse, New York, on behalf of a transgender woman named Frances Fisher, ending her two-year struggle to obtain accurate identification.

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Contact: Lisa Hardaway, 212-809-8585 ext: 266, pgr: 888-987-1971