Let’s Get It Done is a group for trans people seeking to undergo legal name change who desire community support with logistics, accountability, fundraising, and ritual.

• Skills shares! Office Hours! Slack Group! Community Building!
• Begins January 16th, 2022 (full list of dates and times below)
• Sliding Scale $40-200. No One Turned Away For Lack of Funds.
• Access to collective fundraising through GoFundMe campaign
• on Zoom

Sign up form for the group is here.

Doing things alone can be hard, especially when those things include navigating the legal system and other governmental agencies as a trans person. The process of changing your name might bring up feelings of fear, dread, thrill, unworthiness, anxiety, excitement, and shame — feelings that all make total sense! We know these systems were not designed to be safe and accessible for us as trans people, especially those of us who are also BIPOC, disabled, formerly incarcerated, poor, and/or experiencing other forms of systemic oppression.

Doing things alone can be hard, but doing things in community is easier. This group is for anyone in the transgender community who wants to go through the process of legally changing their name with collective support — logistically, and spiritually, and financially. Facilitators Kam and Loa will provide all of the information you need to get it all done, as well as a space to do it with the support of community to ask questions, problem-solve, kvetch, celebrate, and be affirmed for all of who you are. We believe that this group will give participants opportunities to be witnessed by others, to flex their agency and feel a sense of accomplishment, and to experience the loving power of community support.

Let’s Get It Done name change group entails

• A skill-share with an expert from the trans community who will provide all of the information you need to get started on the legal name change process.
• A workshop on the spiritual significance of names and naming, with guidance on how to design your own personalized rituals.
• Monthly optional office hours, featuring trans lawyers and trans ritualists to support you in your individual process.
• A community group on Slack to ask questions, share frustrations and celebrations, and get to know other trans people. Memes will likely be involved.
• Opt-in buddy system for anyone who desires one-on-one peer support.
• Collective fundraising campaign to support those people in the group who on their own cannot afford all of the costs associated with legal name changes
• Community rituals to honor the social and spiritual significance of our names. 

Who is this group for?

All people aged 18+ aiming to change US legal documents for gender-related reasons are welcome to join! The group, which occurs via Zoom, is limited to 30 participants. Some things to know:

We use the term “transgender” as a broad and imperfect term to encompass everyone who does not identify as the sex they were assigned at birth; this includes but is not limited to people who are nonbinary, genderqueer, agender, genderfluid, transsexual, and transgender.

You do not have to be religious or spiritual to join this group. We understand spirituality to be about creating meaning in our lives, and meaning is made in many different ways. This group aims to shift the narrative about what “spirituality” looks and feels like, and to create a space that is unapologetically trans and spiritual and accessible to people for whom religious and spiritual spaces have not been resonant, welcoming, or safe.

You can join from anywhere in the United States. Though the process for legally changing one’s name varies state by state, Kam and Loa will aid you in finding local resources to move through the process wherever you reside.

We are aware that we can not anticipate all of the scenarios that may come up, and all of the forms of support you may need. If you have particular access needs and/or are anxious about your ability to join the group or navigate the legal system, please reach out! We may not have all of the answers, but we do have a commitment to learning, growing, and working it through with you. If we can’t help, we’ll do our best to connect you to trusted people who can.

Group Schedule

• January 16th 2-3PM PST/5-6PM EST: Introductions and Setting Our Container
• January 23rd 2-4PM PST/5-7PM EST: Skill Share on the How-Tos of Legal Name Change
• February 6th 2-3PM PST/5-6PM EST: Office Hours*
• February 20th 2-4PM PST/5-7PM EST: Skill Share on the How-Tos of Spiritual Name Change
• March 6th 2-3PM PST/5-6PM EST: Office Hours*
• March 20th 2-3PM PST/5-6PM EST: Office Hours*
• Group Closing Ritual TBD

Sessions with an * are optional attendance. All meetings occur on Sundays.

Sliding Scale Fees

The cost of the group is on a sliding scale $40-200 per person. Sliding scales are a tool of mutual aid. We encourage those who have more money—through income and/or inherited wealth—to pay at the higher end of the scale. This enables people with fewer financial resources to participate, while also guaranteeing that all organizers and presenters get adequately paid for their labor designing, organizing, and facilitating. We also recognize that racial capitalism prevents many trans people from meeting even their basic needs. That’s why no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

For more in-depth guidance on determining how much to pay, visit my booking page and scroll to the bottom to read about the sliding scale. You can also reach out and we will be so happy to answer any questions!

About Kam

As a gender doula, I am passionate about offering spiritual care services to communities who aren’t typically able to access them, including transgender youth and adults, LGBQ+ youth and adults, people who have experienced religious or spiritual trauma, and people who are religiously unaffiliated and/or identify as secular, atheist, or agnostic. Raised in a secular household by a Jewish dad and a Greek Orthodox mom, I am currently religiously unaffiliated.

I am STOKED to finally be taking the leap to legally change my name. My dream is that this group helps shift the narrative about what “spirituality” looks and feels like. I aim to create spaces that are unapologetically trans and spiritual and accessible. When not working, I love to play chess, dance with my arms in the air, wear yellow, pause to appreciate tiny wondrous things in my neighborhood, and go on cute dates. I use they/them pronouns.

About Loa

Some stuff I do and am: trans, disabled, Jewish, witch, tarot reader, oral historian, writer, chaplain-in-training, peer supporter at a crisis respite center, office manager and case worker with my state assembly member in Astoria, peer mental health advocate with Project LETS, volunteer on Faith Aloud’s clergy call line, student at Sankofa CPE, seminary dropout, big ol nerd about NASA. My current obsessions are decarceral mental health care and The Magnus Archives and tattooing myself after the sun sets on Shabbat.

I changed my name legally in 2015, and then changed it again informally this summer and am choosing not to update it legally again; I’m psyched to be in a space where people have all sorts of relationships with their names! I share Kam’s dream of accessibly spiritual spaces. I’m genderqueer and use they/them pronouns.

You can learn more about my work at my website, and you can follow me on Twitter @james0ctober.

We also have the information posted on my website, facebook event page, instagram, and twitter.