Oregon bill would ease transition for transgender people

A bill in the Oregon House that would make the transition process a little easier for transgender Oregonians. House Bill 2673 would streamline the process of changing your name and identity.

People from all over the state, including in Central Oregon, are making their voices heard in support of it, as protests against the Trump administration have become common, after President Trump overturned an Obama-era bathroom rule.

House Bill 2673 aims to streamline the process of changing your identity, a problem that transgender people deal with.

One transgender woman living in Bend equates it to being an immigrant.

“You don’t necessarily have identity documents that match who you identify as,” Mia Alvidrez said Tuesday.

Proponents of the bill say the current system is too weighed down and creates too many hoops to jump through for those who are trying to legally change the information on their documents.

“Getting your passport, getting your driver’s license, getting your birth certificate changed can be quite an undertaking for a lot of people,” said Central Oregon Pride Director Megan Stackhouse. “And also a very stressful process — and a very public process, too.”

Currently, there is a requirement for courts to publicly post court orders regarding gender identity change.

The bill appears to have popular support. There were 23 letters written to the Oregon House about it, all in favor. One of those who wrote was Alvidrez, who used buying beer at a bar as an example of the difficulty of not having your identity match your legal records.

“You might look like a completely different person and have to out yourself, for the sake of being a consumer,” she said.