I changed my name a week ago, and encountered the same bureaucratic hurdle at my local SSA office. Fortunately, my appointment was timely, and my Social Security account has now been updated.
On the same day, I submitted my passport for name change; I chose to pay for expedited service, as I wanted to avoid any hurdles the incoming administration might choose to create. As of yesterday, the State Department has acknowledged receipt of my passport, but states that I chose ‘routine’ processing. I don’t know if this is deliberate or an inadvertent error on State’s part; it certainly doesn’t reassure me.
I checked my status again today. Happily, State has updated it to ‘Expedited’ status. I have great concern, though, for many trans people who lack the means to change name and ID.
Thank you, Ari, for your voice and your visibility; I’m grateful for your presence.
You’re not trans and you’re openly hostile to trans people. So of course you wouldn’t worry about your passport being denied or involuntarily amended under the Trump administration—you’re not part of a group he’s promised to target (yet). But thanks for the condescension.
Ah. That explains a lot. After 4 hours of not getting through Monday, I physically went to the local SSA office yesterday, saw the new sign that appointments are required, went in anyway, and was able to leave my name & number with the very gracious person running point in the lobby; someone did actually call me back in a couple of hours, and I now have an appointment for tomorrow. Whew! SO glad all the paperwork is done & they just need to sign off on my documentation.
I do believe that this change that took effect last week is about having a structure in place for appointments for the next four years, not about this two week gap period. The more structure that is in place, the less likely the new administration blows things out on day one with new anti-trans policies.
It stinks, as having to wait onsite for three+ hours is a challenge that many people can’t do. I’d never think a new regulation would go into place on January 6th that makes it harder to update documents. But I really think this change is about how the SSA governs things starting on January 20.
I updated mine in May. I went onsite and waited almost an hour. So, it cost you an extra 2+ hours with everyone trying to update documentation before the new administration takes office, which tracks. You had to advocate for yourself to get your documentation updated. I had to deal with the otherwise friendly agent blurting out my deadname multiple times and being oblivious to why this would be an issue. We know none of these government systems are designed for us. Additionally, I suspect there is a rush of people getting new documents now, such as for naturalized Americans, that are also of critical importance.
I am so sorry you had to go through this! I think this may also be a tactic to slow down government during the Trump administration so that services at SSA look overly burdensome and difficult because of cost cutting efforts during the Trump administration. In other words, he is trying to set up the Trump administration for failure.
I don’t know this for certain, but I suspect it because Democrats have in the past allowed the American people to feel pain in order to try and move us to vote for change.
I am not for anyone or any party using the American people as political pawns whatever the reason. That is the essence of what is happening these days and it is plain wrong and unDemocratic.
This is a terrible situation because Liberals no longer have a political party, in this case Democrats, that represents their values. We are going to have to stay strong as local communities to weather this and see if new leadership can come out of these next 4 years.
Thank you for posting about this, as my trans daughter still needs to change the gender marker (the card has the correct name) and we are in a red state. We ran into a problem with the passport. Even though we had the new birth certificate with the new name, they insisted we send them a certified copy of the name change court order. And, they also questioned if she really meant to mark F for gender. I'm like, FFS, we couldn't have gotten the birth certificate unless we had a court order to change it, plus we had to publish the name change in the paper. So many hoops. Ugh!
As a note for folks reading this, you can call a local office as well if you find their phone number. They have the ability to make appointments and are usually a shorter wait than the main number.
If I had not been familiar with the policies, they would have turned me away. They turned away other people who were waiting. You shouldn't have to make a fuss to get this stuff done.
I’m pretty sure the criticism has to do with the timing rather than the result. The elimination of walk-in suddenly forces everyone to call the office and speak to a person, overloading the phone lines & forcing agents to reprioritize their work flow on a call-by-call basis. It sucks for everyone, but for those of us working so hard to establish our legal identities before the shitgibbon hits the fan, it could not have come at a worse time.
Given time, I’m sure the SSA will develop a way to schedule appointments online, but that does squat for us here & now.
I don't know, Ms. If this country can't be criticized, sounds like you're buying into the fascist language that we shouldn't. This is a free country, as of now, so Biden won't suffer any for getting criticized about this.
I got all mine done, and it took years because the state I was born in wouldn't let me change my name OR gender on my birth certificate unless I had surgery. Because I'm a veteran, my old name was everywhere, and that was a nightmare undoing all that. The VA has abandoned advocating for trans veterans, I had to pay out-of-pocket for my surgery, and we're all concerned about what's going to happen with them threatening to reverse everything (except surgeries).
I was able to go into the SSA office and not wait very long to get my name/gender changed in 2016.
I, for one, will not remain silent while attempts are made to exterminate us from public life. I think that's how we got in this mess. Being silent for too long. It's time to fight back!
I changed my name a week ago, and encountered the same bureaucratic hurdle at my local SSA office. Fortunately, my appointment was timely, and my Social Security account has now been updated.
On the same day, I submitted my passport for name change; I chose to pay for expedited service, as I wanted to avoid any hurdles the incoming administration might choose to create. As of yesterday, the State Department has acknowledged receipt of my passport, but states that I chose ‘routine’ processing. I don’t know if this is deliberate or an inadvertent error on State’s part; it certainly doesn’t reassure me.
That's very concerning. Maybe just a clerical error? I was shocked by how quick my passport came back.
I checked my status again today. Happily, State has updated it to ‘Expedited’ status. I have great concern, though, for many trans people who lack the means to change name and ID.
Thank you, Ari, for your voice and your visibility; I’m grateful for your presence.
You’re not trans and you’re openly hostile to trans people. So of course you wouldn’t worry about your passport being denied or involuntarily amended under the Trump administration—you’re not part of a group he’s promised to target (yet). But thanks for the condescension.
you're literally fine. I sent mine in for normal processing in late December and got it back today updated.
Ah. That explains a lot. After 4 hours of not getting through Monday, I physically went to the local SSA office yesterday, saw the new sign that appointments are required, went in anyway, and was able to leave my name & number with the very gracious person running point in the lobby; someone did actually call me back in a couple of hours, and I now have an appointment for tomorrow. Whew! SO glad all the paperwork is done & they just need to sign off on my documentation.
I'm relieved to hear that
I do believe that this change that took effect last week is about having a structure in place for appointments for the next four years, not about this two week gap period. The more structure that is in place, the less likely the new administration blows things out on day one with new anti-trans policies.
It stinks, as having to wait onsite for three+ hours is a challenge that many people can’t do. I’d never think a new regulation would go into place on January 6th that makes it harder to update documents. But I really think this change is about how the SSA governs things starting on January 20.
I updated mine in May. I went onsite and waited almost an hour. So, it cost you an extra 2+ hours with everyone trying to update documentation before the new administration takes office, which tracks. You had to advocate for yourself to get your documentation updated. I had to deal with the otherwise friendly agent blurting out my deadname multiple times and being oblivious to why this would be an issue. We know none of these government systems are designed for us. Additionally, I suspect there is a rush of people getting new documents now, such as for naturalized Americans, that are also of critical importance.
I am so sorry you had to go through this! I think this may also be a tactic to slow down government during the Trump administration so that services at SSA look overly burdensome and difficult because of cost cutting efforts during the Trump administration. In other words, he is trying to set up the Trump administration for failure.
I don’t know this for certain, but I suspect it because Democrats have in the past allowed the American people to feel pain in order to try and move us to vote for change.
I am not for anyone or any party using the American people as political pawns whatever the reason. That is the essence of what is happening these days and it is plain wrong and unDemocratic.
This is a terrible situation because Liberals no longer have a political party, in this case Democrats, that represents their values. We are going to have to stay strong as local communities to weather this and see if new leadership can come out of these next 4 years.
Thank you for posting about this, as my trans daughter still needs to change the gender marker (the card has the correct name) and we are in a red state. We ran into a problem with the passport. Even though we had the new birth certificate with the new name, they insisted we send them a certified copy of the name change court order. And, they also questioned if she really meant to mark F for gender. I'm like, FFS, we couldn't have gotten the birth certificate unless we had a court order to change it, plus we had to publish the name change in the paper. So many hoops. Ugh!
As a note for folks reading this, you can call a local office as well if you find their phone number. They have the ability to make appointments and are usually a shorter wait than the main number.
This isn't a problem with the SSA, Dems, or Biden.
It's a you problem.
You waited until the last damn day to do it and you got triggered that you may have waited too late.
I saw to mine last November by appointment. Why didn't you?
thank you for writing this.
If I had not been familiar with the policies, they would have turned me away. They turned away other people who were waiting. You shouldn't have to make a fuss to get this stuff done.
I’m pretty sure the criticism has to do with the timing rather than the result. The elimination of walk-in suddenly forces everyone to call the office and speak to a person, overloading the phone lines & forcing agents to reprioritize their work flow on a call-by-call basis. It sucks for everyone, but for those of us working so hard to establish our legal identities before the shitgibbon hits the fan, it could not have come at a worse time.
Given time, I’m sure the SSA will develop a way to schedule appointments online, but that does squat for us here & now.
Amen.
Maybe the community deserves what it's getting if it's members act like this?
I don't know, Ms. If this country can't be criticized, sounds like you're buying into the fascist language that we shouldn't. This is a free country, as of now, so Biden won't suffer any for getting criticized about this.
I got all mine done, and it took years because the state I was born in wouldn't let me change my name OR gender on my birth certificate unless I had surgery. Because I'm a veteran, my old name was everywhere, and that was a nightmare undoing all that. The VA has abandoned advocating for trans veterans, I had to pay out-of-pocket for my surgery, and we're all concerned about what's going to happen with them threatening to reverse everything (except surgeries).
I was able to go into the SSA office and not wait very long to get my name/gender changed in 2016.
I, for one, will not remain silent while attempts are made to exterminate us from public life. I think that's how we got in this mess. Being silent for too long. It's time to fight back!
Veteran
(raised during the Civil Rights Movement)
Poster clearly has an agenda to split the LGBT vote and make dems lose.
People like the author should be ejected from the community. IMO if you don't vote dem you don't sit at the table with the rest of us period.