After interning at the Transgender Law Center in California, attorney Abby Churchill decided that she wanted to “find a way to disseminate that information to the masses.”
Paperwork, notaries and court hearings are just the preliminary steps in the extensive and expensive process of changing a first name. But Madison attorney Abby Churchill, founder and director of Trans Law Help Wisconsin, is working to make name changes — and gender marker changes — simpler for transgender and non-binary individuals. The project also plans to start offering financial help and emotional support in court for those with no one else in their corner.
“For people who change their last name through marriage, the process is a lot easier,” says Churchill. “There also isn’t the same type of stigma.” But, she adds, having to come out or be outed if one’s name on a driver’s license, for instance, does not reflect the gender of the individual, can be dangerous “depending on the circumstances.”
Trans Law Help Wisconsin, which began in 2016 under the wing of Community Justice Inc., is a free legal aid clinic, providing individuals education and assistance in legally changing their first names and gender marker on birth certificates, Social Security cards, marriage licenses, credit cards, driver’s licenses, passports and more. The clinic, which hosts sessions quarterly in January, April, July and October, is staffed by volunteer attorneys and notaries who can assist clients in filling out the proper paperwork.
Trans Law’s next clinic is Saturday, Oct. 19, at CUNA Mutual, 5910 Mineral Point Road, and is open to all ages. It includes a presentation about documents and forms clients might need, the court process, how much everything will cost and the different legal expectations that come with adults and minors changing their first names.
“You can see people’s body language change when they walk out of there,” says Christian Swomley, Churchill’s spouse, who is a transgender man and has volunteered at every session since the clinic began. “It’s like a big sigh of relief for them because it’s one less thing they have to worry about.”
“They take you through the journey virtually and it helps with the anxiety of the unknown for those of us who don’t know what we’re getting ourselves into,” says Jessica, a trans woman and mother of two who used Trans Law to help with her name and gender marker change.
Before starting the clinic, Churchill also helped Swomley with his own name change.
“It took me five years and living in three different states to finally be able to figure out how to navigate through the system,” says Swomley. “The paperwork is very complicated and confusing and some states even require your fingerprints. The process would have definitely taken a lot longer without Abby’s help.”
Churchill interned at the Transgender Law Center in Oakland, California, while in law school. There she worked with transgender clients from all around the country. It was an experience that she says helped stoke a fire.
“I’ve known for a really long time that I’ve wanted to work with the LGBTQ community and give back in a useful and tangible way to the community that has given me so much,” says Churchill. “And the internship was a critical moment for me. I knew I didn’t want that information to live inside my head and not be shared. I wanted to find a way to disseminate that information to the masses.”
The day after Trump’s election, Churchill, who was a year out of law school, posted a shout-out on Facebook stating that she was an attorney living in Madison with the “knowledge and resources” to help anyone who had questions or needed assistance with the name and gender change process.
Right away, Churchill began getting Facebook messages and calls with questions from individuals all over the country. She says she was “overwhelmed, but in a good way,” and decided to get together with friends in the Madison area to host a name and gender change clinic that fall. The event had 30 attendees.
“I just took it and ran with it,” says Churchill. “That’s when Trans Law Help Wisconsin was born.”
Since 2016, the program has hosted roughly 10 clinics. Now, Trans Law is looking to start a financial assistance program, which will provide funds for transgender individuals who are unable to pay the expensive legal fees, and an attorney referral network, where Trans Law will partner with LGBTQ-friendly attorneys throughout Wisconsin who can be available to trans clients who live outside of Madison.
Churchill is also working to start a program where volunteers would accompany clients to court to provide emotional support.
“It’s scary going to court and it’s not a great experience whether you’re in trouble or not,” says Swomley. “I was fortunate enough to have Abby and a friend there to support me and that’s not something that everyone has.”
Jessica, who has promoted Trans Law to friends from Madison Area Transgender Association and the Trans Association in Wausau, adds, “So many of us have anxiety and you don’t want to spill our guts alone to someone who is, for all intents and purposes, questioning your gender identity.”
The main focus of the clinic is to “make sure that trans and non-binary folks have the resources they need,” says Churchill. But, she adds, “If we also, by virtue of providing that, do a little advocacy and generate awareness around the issue, that would be a great benefit.”
