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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 2002)
riwcamfrir ft. 200? » rTiTiTTTÏÏÎÏÏTTÏnetys ave you ever had to change infor mation on your state identification card or drivers license? It requires filling out a few documents, paying .the fees and sometimes going before a judge, but beyond that, no big deal, right? Well, it becomes a very big deal for low- income or homeless trans youth. Its a step many in the trans segment of our community put off, sometimes for years after they acknowledge the difference between their core identity and the gender shown on their birth certificates. The roadblocks to changing that simple lit tle “M” or “F ’ can he nightmarish and intimi dating, especially if you’re a young person whose interactions with the state have been anything hut upbeat. A new program sponsored by people who care promises to change all that and to cre ate a friendlier, more accessible atmosphere for those who need its services. The ID Project operates through Outside In, where several staff members, some without remuneration, assist low-income and homeless youth in walking through the steps of identifica tion changes. It’s Time, Oregon! executive director Lori Buckwalter donated $2,500 to a special hind to spearhead the program. The trans activist received the money through the Community Health Partnership, which pre sented her with its Public Health Genius Award in October. (Buckwalter also received one of three community service awards from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force at the closing plenary ses sion of the recent Creating Change conference.) Powell’s Books and the office of sex reassign ment surgeon Toby Meltzer made additional donations for the project. A total of $7,000 got it up and running. Depending on whether a name change is I dentity C risis more complicated when ficiary of the program told Just Out why this is so. gender is involved. “It isn’t being done anywhere else. For exam “Changing sex desig ple, in Hawaii a person who self-IDs as the sex nation through the not marked on a birth certificate must complete Project helps low-income ond homeless youth DMV requires a letter of sexual reassignment surgery,” says Ann Hinds, through the transition process by Patricia L. MacAodha referral from a therapist Outside In risk education specialist. “In Oregon on the DMV’s list of we only need a letter from an approved mental ‘approved’ therapists,” health clinician to qualify for changing the gen counselor Reid Vander der designation on an ID card.” burgh says. “Without Vanderburgh agrees. “It makes perfect sense that letter, the DMV that validation of one’s chosen name and gender will not change the sex identity is a key component and a first step toward designation at all.” becoming one’s true self.” He cites existing atti This has been one of tudes that could make “our little program seem the main barriers for trivial and almost irrelevant,” but “client response trans youth, especially has proven we’re right to consider it so important.” those who are homeless. The response of Aaron Link, the first person They normally can’t to complete the project, bears Vanderburgh out. afford to visit therapists, “I’ve been through it myself,” he says. “The and without knowledge technical process of ID change isn’t too difficult of the process or access in Oregon— we are one of the most progressive to a therapist on the list, states in the nation in terms of trans rights.” ^ they can’t complete the Link lists two primary obstacles in making the o ID change. Vander- ID change as being “cost and the requirement that ^ burgh, who is on the list, a mental health professional approve the o is vital to the young peo- change.... The level of discrimination and ridicule ? pie who are seeking this trans people face is so high,” he says, “that many of | identification change. us are afraid to visit doctors and counselors.” “The project offers The ID Project appears to be a small but sig Lori Buckwalter (center, receiving the Creating Change Community a , nificant step away from that fear and a forward Service Award from Lorri L. Jean and Sarah Jacobsen on Nov. 10) is Sta c.ounse ,nS an SUP' port for completing the movement toward self-esteem and core identity the driving force behind the ID Project administrative process recognition for our trans youth. J H involved, the total process can cost from about es,” Buckwalter says. The program pays all asso $20 to almost $100. A legal name change requires ciated administrative fees and “encourages For more information about the ID PROJECT filling out papers through the Division of Vital youth to be good self-advocates in asserting contact Maria Bonacci at 503-535-3820 or Records, paying an $89 fee and appearing before a their rights to equal treatment.” maria@outsidein. org. judge. Once the name change is accomplished, Buckwalter adds that the project “stands at the the cost of the identification card/driver’s license cutting edge of civil rights for trans people in this P atricia L. M a c A odha is a Portland, free-lance change is cheaper, about $20, but the process is country.” Outside In staff members and one bene writer. E-mail her at plmacaodhal@hotmoil.com. G rand O pening C elebration Saturday, December 14th & Sunday, December 15 th 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. F ree 1/2 lb . of C offee Redeem this coupon for a FREE 1/2 pound of coffee when you purchase a pound. * Reserve coffees excluded. Free offer must be of equal or lesser value. Valid at Peer’s Coffee & Tea on NW Couch only. May not lx; combined with any ot her offer or discount. Expires 12/31/02. Brewery Block 1114 NW Couch Street Portland, OR 97209 971.244.0452 PeetS Coffee &Tea www.peets.com Hi 2 I IT t ’s C of fee vSi le a 15
