The main issue I’ve experienced with changing my name has been people who have rejected my deed poll based on an assumption that it needs to be notarised or come from an official government body like “the deed poll office” (no such government department, it’s a private company). We end up in a back and forth dance with me having to show them the actual government guidance for deed polls and how they all work.
They’re free unless you need an enrolled one.
@renbymon I found either everything would work perfectly smoothly, or I'd have to bring up gov.uk on my phone and show it to them, in person, for anything to change. Worryingly, it seems like the latter has been more common more recently. I wonder and worry if it's a sign of people becoming more skeptical of trans people…
@vulpine Thankfully it’s only happened to me with the council and this website; my employer and the passport office accepted it without question.
I guess as I’ve only started doing this recently I’ve got no experience of what it has been like before. Might start getting printouts of the actual website to give to people who don’t know the process.
@renbymon I think it's a combination of:
- changing one's name is a big deal and people think it has to be a difficult or expensive process
- in other countries it requires a judge or other official to make it legal
- enrolled deed polls do exist in the UK, adding confusion
- companies charging for them muddy the waters and make it seem as though they provide a necessary service
- a little good old fashioned transphobia
@vulpine I do wonder though if they’ve just been kinda gaslit by the fact that there are loads of deed poll companies that charge for something that’s free and they assume that you need something from them for it to be legal?