A Starbucks barista received a surprise birthday gift from his colleagues, which was the ability to legally change his name to reflect his gender.
Matthew, a trans employee in Michigan, shared on a Reddit post how his coworkers at Starbucks pooled money together to fund the process for him to legally change his name.
“I am transgender and now work full time for Starbucks,” he wrote on the Reddit post. “Although I have savings, it has never been enough to afford to have my name officially changed, but this year my coworkers came together and pooled money to give to me to get it changed! Practically, this was the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me, and it definitely made me smile.”
Matthew also shared a photo of himself on Reddit, in which he looks genuinely touched by the profound kindness of his coworkers.
“My coworkers came together and gave me the money to finally change my name officially for my birthday.” byu/Not_A_Cowboy2003 in MadeMeSmile
Only 21% of trans people have been able to fully update all their identification documents, and one-third of transgender people have never done so at all, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.
A number of factors contribute to the challenges transgender people face when wanting to change their identification documents, including the fact that multiple documents need to be updated (driver’s license, passport, social security, birth certificate, etc.) and the associated costs for many of those.
According to Newsweek, a name change can cost up to $500, depending on the person’s location. When you factor that into other document fees, healthcare costs, and daily living expenses, a legal name change is not always feasible for trans people.
Matthew had been wanting to go through the legal process to change his name for a while. However, the extra money to file the paperwork couldn’t take priority in his budget.
When his coworkers gave him a birthday card with the money they had raised to help him with his name change, he said he was “blown away” by their gesture to help him take this significant step.
“It’s not that I didn’t have the money to do it, but I’m very cautious about spending my money because I was homeless for six months after moving out of my parents’ house at age 18,” Matthew said. “So the fact that they all thought of me and surprised me with it was so meaningful and really put into perspective my entire relationship with them and how much I mean to them.”
Starbucks baristas offer to help change a transgender coworker’s name from Simplemost.com
