Coalition Reduces Barriers for Legal Name Changes in Illinois with Passage of Name Change Modernization Act
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Tyler Hough
(815) 579-0867
though@chicagohouse.org
CHICAGO, IL—Chicago House, a housing organization that serves individuals and families living with and impacted by HIV, is a leading provider of legal services to transgender and nonbinary individuals in Illinois.
In a coalition with ACLU-IL, Transformative Justice Law Project, Tania Cordova, Reyna Ortiz, and Eisha Love, Chicago House has advocated to modernize Illinois’s severely outdated name change law. The coalition filed the Name Change Modernization Act (HB 2542), in 2021. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Kelly Cassidy and Sen Bill Cunningham, and passed out of the House in 2021 with strong bi-partisan support.
Currently, Illinois has some of the most conservative name change laws in the United States due to significant restrictions related to criminal records. These restrictions have an especially harmful effect on vulnerable communities who face mistreatment and identity-based discrimination. This ends up negatively impacting survivors of human trafficking, transgender individuals, and poor people of color who occupy one, or both, of those identities. Illinoisans with felony convictions are denied the ability to change their names, including on identity documents, for a full decade after they complete their sentence. Illinois is one of only eight states with this kind of restriction.
"For too long, Illinois has had one of the most restrictive name change laws in the United States. This has created barriers to resources and threatened the safety of transgender and gender expansive people and survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking,” said Chicago House’s TransLegal Director Elizabeth Ricks, Esq.
Chicago House remains committed to protecting the civil and human rights of all people, and we will continue to fight for equity and justice for all Illinoisans.
“Thankfully today, the Illinois Senate voted in support of the Name Change Modernization Act, which will reduce those barriers and bring our state values of equity and fairness to the name change process. We hope Governor Pritzker will sign this bill into law and stop the daily harm done to the communities we serve."
Chicago House and Social Service Agency has been on the forefront of reducing barriers for those affected by HIV/AIDS since the early years of the epidemic. Founded in 1985, Chicago House was the first HIV housing provider in the Midwest. It now serves nearly 3,000 individuals and families annually through expanded programming designed to holistically support individuals impacted by HIV/AIDS through housing, health, employment services, and the TransLife Care Program. Learn more