When applying for jobs or housing, someone can be searched using their chosen name or dead name, and the name change notices appear, giving people access to information about why someone’s name has been changed. There have been documented cases of trans people receiving hate mail from people who searched them and found out they were trans.

Dann and the Name Change Project worked with Judge Christine Ward in the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court to create a special Name Change Court. This new court streamlines the process and allows clients to waive the publication of a name change and seal the record to protect their identities. Before this new process, whether publication was waived was largely up to the discretion of a judge. Some judges were more likely to grant waivers than others, which made an already complicated process opaque. The new process standardizes the rules and makes it easier to seal the records and waive the publication process.

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