The Name Equality Act: Allowing Our State's Couples to Take Each Other’s Last Names, Regardless of Gender

Assemblywoman Ma meets with Mr. Michael Buday, a man who faced great difficulty when he decided to change his last name to his wife’s when the couple was married.

California has long recognized the ability for a person to change their name so long as it is not for fraudulent reasons.  Unfortunately, on California’s marriage and domestic partnership licenses, there is only a place for a woman to legally change her last name, not one for men.  If a man wants to change his last name at the time of marriage, the only way the law allows this is to go through the courts, pay a court filing fee, pay a $32 application fee in addition to the $70 marriage license fee, and publish the change in a local newspaper for four weeks (which cost one individual $475).  The same process is required for same sex couples who wish to commit to a domestic partnership and would like to change the last name of one of the partners. 

This bureaucratic red tape was a pointless hassle and therefore needed to be done away with.  My bill will make the option to change one’s last name void of gender on marriage licenses, thus taking away the hassles that currently exist in the law.  Currently, the states of Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, and North Dakota already have this adapted their laws to allow this.

This bill easily passed both the Assembly and the Senate with bi-partisan support.  On Friday, October 12, 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger signed this key piece of legislation into law despite the efforts of right-wing lobbyists to block it.  This new law will go into effect on January 1, 2008.

Assemblywoman Ma meets with Teala Leon, a woman who wishes to change her last name to that of her domestic partner and her son.