ROCHESTER, N.Y. — What’s in a name? For several participants, changing their names means everything.

“It might not seem that important, but my legal name is on everything,” attorney Elias Schmidt said. “It's the name I use at work. The name that I used when I was in law school.”

Representatives of clinical legal education work alongside the organization Our City Buffalo to assist with a walk-in name and document change clinic.

“It can be really daunting and confusing to navigate if you just don't have a legal background,” Schmidt said. “Having a space where trans people can come in, there's not really the only work they need to do is show up. Right? That just opens the doors to so many trans people who otherwise might not be able to access this.”

President Donald Trump's executive order that the federal government recognizes only two sexes, male and female, has led some states to eliminate the X gender as an option and to suspend its policy allowing transgender, intersex and nonbinary people to update the sex field of their passports.

“We know these orders are impacting people,” University at Buffalo Vice Dean of Experiential Legal Education Bernadette Gargano said. “There is litigation going, in terms of the passport office for the United States and their failure to change people's gender identities or absolute refusal to. So, it is really important right now when you're considering a gender and or name change to think about what that's going to mean on the federal level for both passports and Social Security cards.”

Creating barriers in the LGBTQ+ community and feeling a sense of urgency for the change in name. 

"Living in a state like this, we are seeing in real time what's happening to trans people who live in states that are not so protective,” Schmidt said. “And so I think a lot of us are just feeling the urgency to get these things in place, because we don't know what's going to happen.”

Understanding firsthand the weight a name can carry, Randy Eron has been waiting for this moment since he was 12 years old.

“I have been going by Randy since I realized in middle school, and my dead name, my legal name, just has given me a lot of grief,” Eron said. “I am in shock, honestly, because I finally did it and it’s done.”

Finally having the opportunity to live and be Eron's most authentic self.

“I wasn’t quiet about being trans, but at the same time, I did not feel safe,” Eron said. “I want to be something that a kid can look at and go, 'Oh, like, I do have a future. I have something to look forward to, and I have something that I can be happy with.' Because that was something I really needed when I was that age and I didn't get it.”

Eron is now able to do so with the help of Schmidt, who was once on the receiving end. 

“I changed my name when I was 19,” Schmidt said. “I felt so lost, and I felt like I needed to have an attorney helping me. And so when I'm able to come at it from the perspective of a trans person who's had their name changed.”

As limitations continue to impact the community the clinic comes to fruition, preparing for uncertain times ahead.

“I just feel so grateful to be able to give back to my trans community,” Schmidt said. “I mean, I'm literally up there changing names and seeing people that I know getting their names changed. It just feels so wonderful.”

For more information on assistance or future events you can visit here.