Wednesday, September 14, 2016

This Law Doesn’t Make Sense

Why was this law ever passed? It seems to me that this was only meant to discriminate and make life harder for legal immigrants.
Transgender man sues Mike Pence, other Indiana officials, for law barring non-citizens from changing their name  
NY Daily News
By Laura Bult
September 13, 2016

A transgender man is suing Indiana officials, including GOP vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, saying a state law that prohibits him from legally changing his name opens him up to “harassment and violence.”

The 31-year-old plaintiff, identified as “John Doe” in court documents, was born in Mexico but has lived the entirety of his adult life in Indiana as a man. According to the suit, he was unable to legally switch to his chosen name because of a 2010 state law that requires proof of U.S. citizenship.
[…]
“Without a legal name change, I am forced to use an I.D. that is inconsistent with who I am and puts me in danger of harassment, violence, and being outed as transgender whenever I present it. I am simply asking for equal treatment under the law," he said.
He is not an undocumented immigrant, here is here in the U.S. legal. Not only that but,
He is identified as a male on all of his official U.S. documents and his Indiana state ID. But he was unable to adopt the name that reflects his gender identity because of Indiana House Bill 1047, which passed in 2010 and made U.S. citizenship a requirement for a legal name change. HB1047 was one of several anti-immigration laws passed by state legislators throughout the country in 2010 and 2011.
So tell me, why was this law passed?

What was the motivation for the legislature to introduce this bill?

The federal government allows documented immigrant to change the information on their documentation, there is no criminal intent, and he has paperwork which shows that here is here legally so why can’t he change his name? Here in Connecticut all you have to prove is that you are a U.S. citizen or that you are here in the U.S. legally.

He is suing on the grounds that,
The suit questions the constitutionality of the state law, alleging it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and freedom of speech laws.
I can see no other purpose to this law than to make life harder for immigrants.

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