Dan Q

Tag: law

Actually, Yes! (that IS what my birth certificate says)

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I’ve been going by the name Dan Q for almost 19 years… so like two-thirds of my adult life. I haven’t even needed to show a deed poll to anybody in over a decade1

But just sometimes, somebody asks2 “Yeah, but what does your birth certificate say?”

Dan, a white man with blue hair and a goatee beard, wearing a t-shirt reading 'you see a mousetrap, I see free cheese and a fucking challenge', holds up a Birth Certificate Extract on which his name appears as 'Dan Q'
My birth certificate says… Dan Q. Fuck the haters3.

It didn’t used to say “Dan Q”, but nowadays… yes, that’s exactly what my birth certificate says.

Y’see, I was born in Scotland, and Scottish law – in contrast to the law of England & Wales4 – permits a change of name to recorded retroactively for folks whose births (or adoptions) were registered there.

And so, after considering it for a few months, I filled out an application form, wrote an explanatory letter to help the recipient understand that yes, I’d already changed my name but was just looking for modify a piece of documentation, and within a few weeks I was holding an updated birth certificate. It was pretty easy.

Adapted comic based upon frames from Rick and Morty Season 6, Episode 7 (Full Meta Jackrick). Beyond a sports-themed force field, Morty says to Rick 'That's called ret-conning; couldn't his name just BE Dan Q.' On the near side of the force field, Brett/Rhett Caan, with a comic-art version of Dan's head, says 'It is. And always has been, now.'
Somehow my modification does not make this Rick and Morty episode any more batshit-crazy than it already was.

I flip-flopped on the decision for a while. Not only is it a functionally-pointless gesture – there’s no doubt what my name is! – but I was also concerned about what it implies.

Am I trying to deny that I ever went by a different name? Am I trying to disassociate myself from my birth family? (No, and no, obviously.)

But it “feels right”. And as a bonus: I now know my way around yet another way for (some) Brits to change their names. Thanks to my work at FreeDeedPoll.org.uk I get an increasing amount of email from people looking for help with their name changes, and now I’ve got first-hand experience of an additional process that might be a good choice for some people, some of the time5.

Footnotes

1 By the time you’ve got your passport, driving license, bank account, bills etc. in your name, there’s really no need to be able to prove that you changed it. What it is is more-important anyway.

2 Usually with the same judgemental tone of somebody who insists that one’s “real” name is the one assigned closest to birth.

3 If you’re zooming in on the details on that birth certificate and thinking “Hang on, he told me he was an Aquarius but this date would make him a Capricon?”, then I’ve got news for you about that too.

4 Pedants might like to enjoy using the comments to point out the minority of circumstances under which a birth certificate can be modified retroactively – potentially including name changes – under English law.

5 I maintain that a free, home-made deed poll is the easiest and cheapest way to change your name, as a British citizen, and that’s exactly what FreeDeedPoll.org.uk helps people produce… and since its relaunch it does its processing entirely in-browser, which is totally badass from both a hosting and a user privacy perspective.

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Woodcraft Folk statement on the exclusion of trans children from Girlguiding

This is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.

Woodcraft Folk stands in solidarity with every trans child, young person and volunteer who faces exclusion from Girlguiding UK following the announcement on Trans inclusion.

We recognise that Girlguiding UK have taken this decision in the context of intense political pressure and legal uncertainty. However, this does not make the outcome acceptable. Young people should never bear the consequences of political disputes. All children and young people deserve respect, safety and inclusion in their youth organisations.

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Excellent statement from Woodcraft Folk.

I was saddened to hear the news that Girlguiding will no longer accept trans girls as members. It seems to me that it would have been perfectly reasonable for them to change their articles in response to the Supreme Court silliness: instead of declaring themselves as being for the benefit of “girls and women” they could have become for the benefit of “girls, women, trans girls, and trans women”.

Yes, obviously it’s horrible that the Supreme Court’s othering decision means that people have to spell out that “by women, we mean all women, including trans women”. But that’s a thing that a charity can do. It’s perfectly reasonable for a charity to be for the benefit of multiple groups.

But no, they took the easy option.

So it’s great to see youth-supporting organisations like Woodcraft Folk make a statement like this that trans kids continue to be welcome with them. Okay, this was easier for them than for Girlguiding because Woodcraft’s articles didn’t contain any gendered language in the first place. And it’s fine that Girlguiding’s does use gendered language – it’s okay for charities to be gender-specific! – but it’s a shame that they didn’t… pardon the pun… have the balls to stand up for what’s right for all women and girls, in spite of the UK’s growing transphobia. Ugh.

Anyway: nice work, Woodcraft Folk.

Repost posted at UTC on .

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