bring me back a dog

[ryanleeds]

I want to thank all of the people who have helped me with getting my dog once again. You have all been so generous and it means so much to me. I am hopeful that I will be able to get my dog back and not have to take her to a shelter.

In completely unrelated news, I filed for a name change today. I've been waiting for this moment for 5 years. (Actually, I've been waiting for a name change since I was about 5, so 18 years, when my mother promised me one. She's just unwilling to pay for me to change my name to a male one.) Because I'm on government assistance, my filing fees were waived and my shelter is paying for the publication fees. (Which is a little wonky right now because I need them to call and give the credit card number while I'm at the courthouse. So I haven't filed for publication yet, but everything else is in line.)

My hearing date isn't until August 10th, but I'm already feeling a lot of weight off my shoulders. Getting the right name on my ID will keep me from being abused at a lot of hospitals, feeling sick at the DMV and the Social Security Office when they call me by the wrong name, and in general make me feel safer when presenting my ID to anything else. And it will finally stop people from putting my name in scare quotes.

As soon as I can be seen by mental health at the Children's Hospital, I'll be filing for a gender change. In California all you need is a doctors note saying that you're taking the proper medical steps to transition to X gender. And you can file for a gender change. I fucking love California. No surgery required. Now if only they would do something for non-binary people and gender markers. (I have been informed by magistrate that the only place that does this is Nepal. Nepal.

There was a lot of running around the courthouse (go to this window then this office then come back and go to another office) which wasn't very good for my leg, but I'll be taking a tylenol soon and hoping the inflammation goes down.

But all in all, today was a very good day, and considering how things have been lately, I'll take that. And keep it for when things get worse.

Comments

[magistrate]

I don't think Nepal is the only place that does this! Just the one that came to mind.

...in other news, woo! Glad some things are going well.

[magistrate]

...Pakistan apparently also recognizes a third gender: eunuchs. There's work being done in Kenya and Canada for legal options. Australian passports also have a third gender option. And I'm pretty sure India has some recognition.

[ryanleeds]

I thought -- no, it's Canada that's working on a third gender option. And yeah, it makes sense with India, considering.

[magistrate]

Yeah. It's rare, but it's not singular. (Just don't want to be immortalized as the person giving you bad information, heh.)

[rubyprism]

Do eunuchs commonly self-identify as a different gender from male? Or is this something imposed by others?

[magistrate]

...you know, I have no idea if it's a self-identified term, an externally-identified term, or an artifact of translation.

[ryanleeds]

iirc, it actually has nothing to do with removal of the testicles, although many do.

[finch]

Yay! Congrats!