Even Baby Steps Move You In The Right Direction

We continue to move in the right direction here at the State Department. As I mentioned in my post on bidding this week, my partner and I are working on bidding for the first time as an official tandem, and today, we had an excellent meeting with her CDO (Career Development Officer) on our next steps in bidding. We are being treated exactly like other tandems, and that is exactly what we want. Equality. No more. No less.

The cable below is one more step towards equality. We were married in 2002 in our church, and while it did not have any legal binding, it is the only marriage that counts. That said, we do plan in November, on our 10th anniversary of being together, to be legally married in Massachusetts. But as I said, our real marriage happened in 2002.

That said, the cable below means that after our marriage, we could, if we decided to, change our names in our passports based on our marriage certificate. We don't plan to...we both like our names and even as children never planned to give them up. That said, it is nice to know we could if we wanted to. That we have the same options our straight colleagues do.

Baby steps, but steps.

Towards Equality. No more. No less.


UNCLASSIFIED STATE 00085355
R 171347Z AUG 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO ALL DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 STATE 085355

ATTN: CONS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CPAS, CASC, CMGT
SUBJECT: 7 FAM REVISION: 7 FAM 1359 APPENDIX C NAMES TO
BE USED IN PASSPORTS - CHANGE OF NAME BY OPERATION OF
LAW AND NAME CHANGE FOR USE IN U.S. PASSPORTS

[...]

2. The verbatim text of the 7 FAM 1359 revision
provides:

a. 22 CFR 51.25(a) states that "A passport shall be
issued in the full name of the applicant, generally the
name recorded in the evidence of nationality and
identity." 22 CFR 51.25(c) states that, "A name change
will be recognized for purposes of issuing a passport if
the name change occurs in one of the following ways.
...(4) Operation of state law. An applicant must present
operative government-issued legal documentation
declaring the name change or issued in the new name."

[...]

c. When a passport applicant assumes a new surname
(whether a totally new surname, the applicant's original
"maiden name", or a new hyphenated name) under the
provisions of state law, the applicant may have the
passport issued in the applicant's new surname.

Note: The Department may recognize a legal name change
based upon a marriage certificate because states
generally provide for lawful name change upon marriage.
The Department is not recognizing the marriage
certificate for purposes of upholding or determining the
validity or the status of the marriage. With respect to
passport issuance the Department does not address the
matter of marriage validity but is addressing only a
state-recognized legal name change.

[...]

f. The Department recognizes other name changes,
provided they are recognized by operation of state law,
established by customary usage, or effected by court
order. If not on the PRI listing, applicants seeking to
establish a name change based on a certificate of civil
union or certificate of domestic relationship have the
burden to show that state law recognizes the name change
by operation of law. If the state recognizes a legal
name change based upon the certificate of civil union or
certificate of domestic relationship, please then refer
to sections b through d above.

[...]

(2) A certificate of civil union or certificates of a
domestic relationship can be accepted as one of the
public documents submitted in support o f a customary
name change. Name changes by customary usage must be
supported by documentary evidence of use of the new name
for a period of five years, that is, three original or
certified copies of public records that show the
applicant's name, date and place of birth and use of the
assumed name for five years. Original or certified
copies of certificates of civil union or certificates of
domestic relationship cannot be accepted as the only
documentary evidence of a customary name change but may
be one document evidencing customary usage.

[...]