Following Donald Trump’s win in the early hours of Wednesday morning, American women, immigrants, people of color, Muslims, and LGBTQ+ people began asking critical and urgent questions about how to prepare for the rest of their lives. Calls to LGBTQ+ hotlines spiked exponentially, as did online searches about birth control devices such as IUDs. Now, lawyers on Twitter are reaching out to the trans community, offering resources and support in preparation for January 20 through the hashtag #TransLawHelp.
“Trans Family: If you have been waiting to amend your documents, your driver’s license, your birth certificate reissued and sealed, to have your marriage license reissued in the correct format, your social security name and gender, do it now,” NYU professor Naomi Clark tweeted in a note. “Please reach out to community in your area or in the big groups if you need help figuring out how to do this. It may not be available very soon. You may essentially have 70 days,” the note concluded.
Clark explains in a series of related tweets that up until 2010, it was difficult for trans people to obtain a passport that accurately reflected their gender identity (which left them susceptible to border stops and searches). Clinton’s State Department created an easier method of amending, which was further supported through a series of executive orders Barack Obama has made in efforts to improve trans rights and safety. One such order, in 2014, prohibited anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination from federal contractors. This year, the Obama administration issued schools a directive to protect their trans students under Title IX. “The entire Obama administration wants you to know that we see you, we stand with you, and will will do everything we can to protect you going forward,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said.
The precise policy implications of Trump’s racist, sexist, Islamophobic, transphobic, homophobic, xenophobic hate speech can be a little murky. But his running mate and now Vice President-elect — former Indiana governor Mike Pence — has made some crystal clear statements about what to expect from a decidedly anti-LGBTQ+ administration. Last month, Pence (who has supported conversion therapy and a constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex marriage nationwide) confirmed that he and Trump would rescind the federal contractor executive order and undermine the President’s bathroom rights directive. Because passports and Social Security documents are federally controlled, it is important trans people consider these changes critically.
So, lawyers on Twitter have been reaching out to the trans community using the hashtag #TransLawHelp, originated by Twitter user @dtwps. Many of them are offering pro bono services to help trans people navigate name change forms and complete the necessary identification documents before Trump assumes office next year. “I’m a trans attorney licensed in PA and NJ, can help those transitioning with name changes and ID docs. Philly/S.Jersey #translawhelp,” one lawyer tweeted. “I am a notary in the State of Maine but I can notarize things from anywhere for ppl from anywhere. I just need to see you f2f #translawhelp,” another added.
“If there is a determination that [the Trump administration] wants to really stem the efforts then potentially we could lose a tremendous amount of [legal] protection,” Jillian Weiss, the executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, told Jezebel. “A presidential administration is very powerful culturally as well as legally. And so if there is a sense giving to the populace at large that this group of people is not valued and don’t deserve protection then I think that social consequences will follow.”
If you are a trans person seeking legal services, consult your local clerk of courts, #translawhelp, or the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.
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Text Emily Manning
Image via Flickr Creative Commons