xrarp@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Aliza R. Panitz) (07/31/90)
According to Federal law, you can use ANY name you want, as long as you use it openly and consistently. Since a driver's license is your official "Government ID Card" (whether you like it or not) the various state Motor Vehicles places have developed different standards on how you need to document your existence. (For example, the Maryland MVA will not accept a US passport as proof of date of birth... you need to bring in a tattered paper birth certificate. My own pet peeve, since it cost me a month's delay.) The state has *no* right to tell you what name you should use after you get married. Think of it this way... if the state has the right to tell you what middle name to use, they would logically also have the right to tell a woman she *must* adopt her husband's surname. I recommend that you bring a copy of your marriage license, old drivers license, birth certificate, and what have you to the MVA. Insist on getting the name you want on your license. WRITE DOWN THE NAME OF EVERYONE WHO TURNS YOU DOWN. Be polite, and every time you get "no" for an answer, ask to talk to the person's supervisor. If they tell you that what you want is against policy, ask to see the written policy manual. (Just remember to be polite to people who have to enforce policies that they had no part in making, or have not been told how to make the system accept non-standard input.) If you don't get results you like, or if you get an unacceptable amount of hassle, write a strongly worded letter to all of your elected representatives, and to the state Civil Rights commission, complaining. Don't accept the situation until it has been taken care of. - - - - Aliza R. Panitz Obligatory Wasted Bandwidth xrarp@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov
austern@ux5.lbl.gov (Matt Austern) (08/01/90)
An interesting piece of trivia: when my sister got married last year, both she and her husband changed their names. My sister just had to say she wanted a name change when she got the marriage license, but my brother in law had to file a formal petition in court, which involved a fair amount of hassle and expense. This is hardly a major issue, but it's just one of those many state and federal laws that don't even pretend to be non-sexist. -- Matthew Austern austern@lbl.bitnet It's not very subtle, but, uh, (415) 644-2618 austern@ux5.lbl.gov neither is blowing up a whole school.