New York
— A transgender Rochester man must provide
medical evidence to justify his request to change his
first name from Sarah to Evan, a local judge has ruled.
Allowing Sarah
Rockefeller to change his name without evidence "would be
fraught with danger of deception and confusion and
contrary to the public interest," State Supreme Court
Justice William P. Polito, citing a 1976 law journal
article, said in his ruling.
Polito on Friday ruled
for the second time against Rockefeller's request for the
name change. The ruling has sparked the involvement of
the American Civil Liberties Union <http://www.aclu.org/>,
which argues that the ruling places an unnecessary burden
of proof on transgender individuals that isn't required
of others.
Sarah Rockefeller filed
paperwork on Nov. 17 to have his name changed to Evan
Rockefeller, "which he believes better reflects his male
gender identity," according to court records.
"I've been using it a
year and a half," Rockefeller, 26, said this week.
"Generally, people call me 'sir' when they see
me."
But Polito denied the
name change, saying the application "lacks any medical,
psychiatric or psychological corroborative support
concerning the petitioner's alleged
psychological/anatomical sexual conflict."
Rockefeller declined to
discuss whether he has had sexual reassignment surgery.
It shouldn't matter, his lawyers contend.
"If a man wanted to
change his name to Sue, under New York state law, it's
perfectly fine for him to do so with no requirement that
his name correspond to his gender," said ACLU lawyer Paul
Cates.
As an alternative, Polito
suggested using another name without legally changing
it.
"I was upset. Obviously I
thought it was a violation of my civil rights,"
Rockefeller said.
He researched the subject
online and sent a discrimination complaint to the
ACLU.
"I didn't really expect
to hear back from them," Rockefeller said. "A couple of
weeks later, I got an e-mail from a paralegal asking for
more information." A lawyer then flew to Rochester from
New York City to discuss his case.
A second, separate
petition, citing other court rulings, was filed June 19,
asking Polito to approve Rockefeller's name
change.
Sharon McGowan, an ACLU
lawyer who filed the second petition, received a letter
from Polito on Monday, saying the motion for reargument
was denied, even though Rockefeller's second petition
didn't ask to argue the original petition and ruling.
"There appears to be
confusion in the court's mind," McGowan said. "We need to
do some technical cleaning up to make sure the judge
understands what we've got here. Assuming the outcome is
the same, an adverse ruling could be appealed. That's
something we'll obviously investigate. We're not going
away."
Rockefeller, a teacher's
aide, said he's never heard of another transgender
person, locally or otherwise, being denied a name
change.
"What I could have done
was give (Polito) the information that he wanted,"
Rockefeller said. "The problem then is that he is
imposing a heavier burden for people who are
transgendered who want to change their name. My case
could have been used as a precedent. I didn't want my
case to be moving in the opposite direction."
Denial of a name change
can be made when someone is intending to commit fraud,
escape criminal prosecution or evade child support. Two
convicted murderers from Monroe County also were denied
changing their names while in prison.
"Not having his name
change puts him in considerable danger in some cases,
opens him up to ridicule and embarrassment," said Pamela
Barres of Perinton, director of the Rochester chapter of
the New York Transgender Rights Organization. "This is
just one judge's opinion who is out of touch with what's
going on."
Polito's office did not
return calls Tuesday to comment.
