December 11, 2006--Who's My Roommate?
I’ve been having trouble with airport security. Not because of racial profiling or anything like that. But because of my name.
My first name is “Lloyd” and my middle name is “Steven.” But for some still inexplicable reason, my parents from day one called me “Steven.” So I’ve been “L. Steven.”
That in itself should not be much of a problem—there is the actor F. Murray Abraham, for example, and even a T. S. Eliot. Pre 9/11 neither they nor I needed to think much about this. I, for example, would purchase an airline ticket under the name “Steven” or “L. Steven.” It didn’t much matter. But it sure does now since my passport and drivers license both list me as “Lloyd.” To get past security these days I now need to buy tickets under my original, unused first name.
My wife Rona, who buys most of these tickets, and is very practical, suggested that I should change my name. Legally get the “Lloyd” removed. She even got me the forms I would need from New York City.
No problem, I thought, as I blithely began to fill them out. But I came up short when I was asked to add the reason I wanted to change my name. To help out, they listed a few examples—You are an actor and have adopted a stage name; You married and kept your original name [you can also ask the court to change your last name] and now want to use your spouse’s name; You got married and changed your last name and now you are divorced and want to return to your ‘maiden’ name; and then, You were born male but during the course of your life you have thought of yourself as female (or vice versa) and now you want to adopt a female name.
Even though I am OK with all of these suggested reasons, including the last one, it gave me sufficient pause as I thought about it to help me decide I that liked all of my give names; and so what’s the big deal about buying airline tickets using “Lloyd”?
But then I read about something in the NY Times that takes this a step further—the New York City Board of Health submitted a proposal that would allow people to change their sex on their birth certificates even though they had not undergone a sex-change operation. Well that’s too much for even me. (Article linked below.)
I confess that I was glad to learn that the Board subsequently withdrew it. How would any of these folks get through airport security, especially if they had to go through a body search or the X Ray machines at the airport in Phoenix which are, how shall I put this, very explicitly revealing. Then what about hospitals? Don’t you want to know who’s in the bed beside you? And don’t you want the nurse to bring and insert the appropriately gendered catheter?
Not to mention prisons.
So call me old fashioned. And call me either “Lloyd” or “Steven.” Take your pick. I now answer to both.
My first name is “Lloyd” and my middle name is “Steven.” But for some still inexplicable reason, my parents from day one called me “Steven.” So I’ve been “L. Steven.”
That in itself should not be much of a problem—there is the actor F. Murray Abraham, for example, and even a T. S. Eliot. Pre 9/11 neither they nor I needed to think much about this. I, for example, would purchase an airline ticket under the name “Steven” or “L. Steven.” It didn’t much matter. But it sure does now since my passport and drivers license both list me as “Lloyd.” To get past security these days I now need to buy tickets under my original, unused first name.
My wife Rona, who buys most of these tickets, and is very practical, suggested that I should change my name. Legally get the “Lloyd” removed. She even got me the forms I would need from New York City.
No problem, I thought, as I blithely began to fill them out. But I came up short when I was asked to add the reason I wanted to change my name. To help out, they listed a few examples—You are an actor and have adopted a stage name; You married and kept your original name [you can also ask the court to change your last name] and now want to use your spouse’s name; You got married and changed your last name and now you are divorced and want to return to your ‘maiden’ name; and then, You were born male but during the course of your life you have thought of yourself as female (or vice versa) and now you want to adopt a female name.
Even though I am OK with all of these suggested reasons, including the last one, it gave me sufficient pause as I thought about it to help me decide I that liked all of my give names; and so what’s the big deal about buying airline tickets using “Lloyd”?
But then I read about something in the NY Times that takes this a step further—the New York City Board of Health submitted a proposal that would allow people to change their sex on their birth certificates even though they had not undergone a sex-change operation. Well that’s too much for even me. (Article linked below.)
I confess that I was glad to learn that the Board subsequently withdrew it. How would any of these folks get through airport security, especially if they had to go through a body search or the X Ray machines at the airport in Phoenix which are, how shall I put this, very explicitly revealing. Then what about hospitals? Don’t you want to know who’s in the bed beside you? And don’t you want the nurse to bring and insert the appropriately gendered catheter?
Not to mention prisons.
So call me old fashioned. And call me either “Lloyd” or “Steven.” Take your pick. I now answer to both.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
5:51 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home