30 December 2023 - The Labels We Choose for Ourselves

Gender Identity Weekly

In this episode of the show, I speak with my very good friend Shannara Quissell, an amazing attorney and Executive Director of the Colorado Name Change Project. Shannara and I discuss the important things in life: our right to define ourselves, our obligation to trust each other, and the beauty of the brocket for storing documents.

REFERENCES:

Connect with Shannara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannara-quissell-25072387/

The first of name change blogs: https://www.zalesskylaw.com/blog/name-changes

Colorado LGBTQ Bar Association: https://www.clba.net

Colorado Name Change Project: https://www.namechangeproject.org/

Dana Zzyym: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Zzyym

Gender Identity Today: https://genderidentitytoday.com/

• (00:00) - Show opening
• (00:36) - Introducing Shannara Quissell
• (03:43) - A desire to make a difference
• (07:18) - Law as penalty, not support
• (09:17) - Finding Colorado Name Change Project
• (12:42) - Names as identity, not gender
• (17:46) - Name change is even hard for attorneys
• (21:49) - For the love of stamping
• (23:49) - States get to make names change as hard as they choose
• (27:23) - Names are only about money
• (31:29) - Names used to be only social constructs
• (34:00) - Gender marker is less than social construct in Colorado
• (37:56) - Jude's Law
• (42:16) - Change your entire view of identity
• (49:12) - Gender change for intersex people
• (54:41) - Trust could go a little further
• (56:43) - The Episode's Misty-Eyed Moment
• (01:01:57) - Show closing