Several far-Left members of the Pennsylvania State Senate announced on Monday they are reintroducing a series of bills to help transgender residents change their names — including one measure that would force taxpayers to assist those who are going through the process.
State Senators Tim Kearney (D-Springfield), Amanda Cappelletti (D-Norristown), Katie Muth (D-Royersford) and Lindsey Williams (D-Pittsburgh) complained that transgender constituents often tell them the process of changing their names is onerous. State Representatives Ben Sanchez (D-Abington) and Melissa Shusterman (D-Phoenixville) have reintroduced a House version of the legislation which would allot $2 million to a “Compassionate Name Change Assistance Grant Fund.”
“Since introducing these bills, we have continued to hear from members of the community about the need to advance these pieces of legislation, especially at a time when members feel more under attack than ever,” Kearney and his cosponsors wrote in a memorandum describing the proposal. “In that effort, we are re-introducing this package of bills so that individuals can more easily live as their authentic selves.”
Progressives who want to use taxpayer dollars for a new program to address a narrow social cause could face resistance even outside of the Republican-controlled Senate in light of the commonwealth’s forecasted fiscal predicament. A recent analysis by the Pew Charitable Trusts predicts that a decline in the state’s population of working-age taxpayers will lead to a $3.2-billion decrease in state revenue over 15 years.
And while hardly any state House Democrats could be considered social conservatives, the party will need nearly every vote it can muster to pass a program like the one Kearney, Sanchez and their allies envision. Democrats currently hold only a two-member majority in the 203-seat chamber.
The bill’s sponsors insist that their measure is advisable because of the burdens associated with the name-change process. That process, which can cost up to $600, involves acquiring a fingerprint card, completing a background check, filling out numerous forms, publicizing the change and conferring with a judge. Once those steps are taken and the person’s new name is official, the senators wrote, certain aspects of life become easier; they cited data suggesting that 30 percent of transgender individuals with seemingly mismatched names who have shown identification to government offices, schools, law enforcement or other institutions have endured some form of resistance or aggravation.
“Transgender individuals are faced with discrimination and harassment that is exasperated [sic] by the additional burdens of obtaining legal documents that reflect their identities,” their memo states. “Beyond the emotional impact on an individual for not being able to legally identify as themselves, transgender individuals will face difficulties traveling, registering for school, and accessing many services that require documentation.”
Kearney and his cosponsors also want legislators to consider three other bills reforming name-change proceedings. One bill would instruct the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission to provide clearer online guidelines for those hoping to select new names. That legislation would also mandate new training for judges and administrators to ease the undertaking for interested individuals.
Another measure would do away with publication requirements. Presently, if someone wants to change his or her name, the applicant must submit a petition to a court and advertise the required hearing in two newspapers, a process that the lawmakers said can cost between $150 and $300.
A third bill would thoroughly reform the name-changing effort by removing the courts from most proceedings and allowing an applicant to simply file name-change documents with a county administrator. This legislation would also strike the current ban on a convicted felon changing his or her legal name for two years after he or she served a sentence.
Another policy the senators are asking colleagues to support would entail removing sex categories from birth certificates, a feature they say leads only to discrimination. This is despite the fact that any Pennsylvanian who can demonstrate he or she has received appropriate clinical attention to identify with a different gender may already amend his or her birth certificate for a $20 fee.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Pennsylvania Daily Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ben Sanchez” by Rep. Ben Sanchez. Photo “Melissa Shusterman” by Rep. Melissa Shusterman. Background Photo “Pennsylvania Capitol” by Michael180. CC BY-SA 2.5.
There are a few honest, bona fide transsexuals. I know one. But that is not what this legal morass is all about. The Left is using an invented gender morass to confuse, divide and conquer Western civilization and society, turning LGBTQ against straight, black against white, women against men, etc. etc. Then it will be: ‘Come to us, thee Mega-Government. We will fix it all for you.’ They certainly will. All the useful idiots who assisted in their takeover will be enslaved or eliminated.
I’ll make them a deal: while I won’t help to pay for their name change (much less their “transgender surgery”) , I WILL chip-in to buy them a one-way ticket to Cuba or Communist China . . .
Tell you what: let’s take up a collection to help pay for this pair of state senators to legally change their names to ‘Butthead’ and ‘S*** For Brains.’ I would kick in for that.
No no no we taxpayers need to pull our tax money let the vile perverted government go down these politicians are not Americans they are communist out to destroy America and all that is good, honest, honorable, fair, to all Americans, Our Constitution As Written must be forced on these Treasonous Traitor’s, Fire them arrest prosecuted for HIGH TREASON
Yep….just trash being the trash we know. Glad I left Pa long ago.
Wow, well I need help paying for the care for my ingrown toe nail too. I bet their are people up there who need help paying rent and supplying a healthy meal for their family too. But they are straight God loving people so they get nothing. You can Thank Brandon for that! Sure a bunch of stupid politicians up North. Time for some people get off the couch, put that phone down and drag their ass down to the voting booth next time.
This is got to be the dumbest idea ever. If they want to follow the devil and think that they are the opposite sex than the sex they were born with pay for it yourself. We are not the ones that are telling you that you need to decide that you are the wrong sex. Dumb and dumber ever.
HOPEFULLY THEY JUST KILLED THEIR PPOLITICAL CAREERS!!
If we get an crazier we won’t need hospitals for the mentally ill!! This whole transgender “thing” is bizarre. Number One is that doing any irreparable things to a minor’s body is CHILD ABUSE!!! When organs have been removed, bodies mutilated – that cannot be reversed when they are mature and realize that no matter what – one’s gender cannot be changed! Ninnyhammers speak about “following science”? When the most drastic surgery is done all that happens is that one may “Look like a male (from female) or Look like a female (from male), but one is still what one was born. Sometimes young people who thought that was what they wanted come back to plead with folks not to do “anything that cannot be negated” on especially and at least minors!!!
I don’t support anything the dems or the radical left want. As far as transgender, gays, bisexuals are concerned, if they can’t do the job that they get nominated for, they don’t deserve the job or any support from me. Same goes for whites, hispanics, blacks , Chinese. Did I leave anyone out? yes I did, I don’t support RINOS OR PRESIDENT BIDEN/HARRIS OR HIS ADMINISTRATION.
NO