How do we reclaim our imagination from what the prison industrial complex has forced us into thinking are the only solutions that we have?
— Shira Hassan
Current
Legal Services
NAME CHANGE HEARINGS
Our legal team currently provides free legal representation in name change proceedings for minors and people with criminal convictions. For name change petitioners who do not require an attorney to represent them in their name change hearing, Alexis, Dezi, and Molly still provide support behind the scenes to make sure petitioners have the support to navigate the legal process to change their names.
NAME CHANGE LAWSUIT
In May 2019, 8 trans women represented by TJLP and a private law firm sued Cook County State Attorney Kimberly M. Foxx, Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans, Cook County Judge Sharon M. Sullivan in the federal lawsuit Ortiz, et al. v. Foxx, et al. challenging the constitutionality of Illinois name change laws. All of the women are facing either a life-long or 10-year ban from changing their names based on certain criminal convictions. The lawsuit is still pending before the Northern District Court of Illinois. To learn more about the lawsuit, go to this page (link to lawsuit page).
Future Legal Services…
CRIMINAL DEFENSE
This has been a long time goal of TJLP, and is an area that we are still exploring and strategizing on how to provide this much needed service to transgender individuals in Cook County.
JAILS & PRISONS
TJLP’s legal team also hopes to provide legal advocacy and support for trans and gender non-conforming people in jails and prisons across Illinois.
REFERRALS FOR OTHER ISSUES
Due to our current focus on name and gender marker changes we are unable to provide legal services in other areas. We will do our best to provide referrals for legal services for criminal defense, prison and jail advocacy, housing, employment, medical, discrimination, custody, divorce, criminalized youth, and other legal needs.