hey fedi, i hate to make this post but i have no other idea what i can do at this point.
if you'd rather skip to "hey give me money" my wise is available here and other payment methods can be given if you DM me. legal aid/help finding lawyers is much preferred however.
for a summary, i'm a trans entity living in washington state (other side of the country from alabama for those unfamiliar) that got their name legally changed through a sealed court order on 2026-02-05. everything touching WA has been relatively okay, however i was born in AL.
after sending the form that AL requires (HS-33, available here) that same day, they cashed the check on 2026-02-11. it took them until 2026-02-24 to get it out of the mail room supposedly according to me repeatedly calling AL DPH questioning what was happening. neither time i called did the specialist that supposedly was handling my case pick up when i asked to be transferred to them. the first time they did not make me deadname myself, the second time they did and thought it was an adoption proceeding at first.
come 2026-03-31 the "amended" birth certificate was issued, and i received it on 2026-04-06. however the amended birth certificate lists in section 2 that "Registrant's name changed from ${deadname} to Eleanor Iovi ${lastname} per King County, Washington, Superior Court Order, Case No. ${casenumber}, dated February 5, 2026. Done: March 31, 2026 NC"
this is despite the court order itself being sealed. i hope you can witness the glaring fucking issue in making a trans individual provide the court petition i filed with WA (that outs me as trans for the reason the name change is sealed) then decide to list their deadname on the certificate. AL's DPH is the only place of any sorts that has requested the court petition i filed to start the case and they only explained that when i called them asking what i needed to submit.
when i called AL DPH on 2026-04-08 they were initially quite combative and did not understand what i was talking about. however, after approximately an hour of waiting (both on call and waiting for a callback) they quoted AL 22-9A-19 alongside "internal rules and regulations" that were available on their website as the defense that they must list my deadname on the birth certificate. they refused to elaborate on what specific internal rule and/or regulation was the reason, however from reading them it appears to be 420-7-1-.16 section 6.C. (available here. the URL is not a permalink or similar.)
neither of these laws or rules mention that the prior name must be listed. in fact, the only mention anywhere regarding what is listed in section 2 (the "amendment explanation" it seems) is that
A certificate that is amended under this section shall be marked "AMENDED" except as otherwise provided in this section. The date of amendment and a summary description of the evidence submitted in support of the amendment shall be made a part of the record. [...]
a summary description (from seemingly every reasonable interpretation) could easily be "Registrant's name was changed to Eleanor Iovi ${lastname} per King County, Washington Superior Court Order, dated February 5, 2026. Done: March 31, 2026 NC" alabama seems to not acknowledge this, has a vastly different idea of summary description, and/or has done it as they have out of pure malice.
i uhh. don't really know what the fuck i can do at this point. i have called 5 attorneys/law firms in alabama today that supposedly specialize in family law, none of which have been of help. lambda legal's help desk told me i would likely need to seek a lawyer in alabama for this. the CLEAR hotline (WA's pro bono legal work hotline) did not get back to me when i called but i will likely try calling again soon.
almost anything helps at this point, both to deal with legal shit and to deal with day-to-day living as i have not been able to find employment in washington since moving up here to flee an abusive situation that's a debacle in its own right.
(almost) any questions are more than welcome and i will try and explain/elaborate to the best of my ability.
