Inland Counties Legal Services has established the Inland Empire’s first program tailored to address the legal issues affecting the LGBTQIA population, according to ICLS pro bono coordinator L Orozco.
“We’re the only legal services organization in our region providing this kind of assistance, helping folx* from beginning to end with the gender-marker and name-change process, giving an overview, filling out court forms, responding to court inquiries or if there’s a hearing. We help folx who secure the order to amend identification documents,” Orozco said by phone Oct. 22.
The program’s origin
They said ICLS was working with the Queer and Transgender Resource Center at California State University, San Bernardino, when they realized there was no legal service program in the two-county area that assessed folx’ needs or served as a repository for legal information.
“Our region has the third largest LGBTQIA population in California, roughly 133,000 who identify under the LGBTQIA umbrella,” Orozco said. “Twenty-seven thousand identify as transgender or gender diverse. We have a very big presence in the region.”
According to ICLS’ LGBTQIA Legal Services Program impact report, more than one-third of the LBGTQIA folx in the Inland Empire have experienced discrimination in housing, employment and health care.
According to the 2022 US Trans Survey of 100,000 respondents across the country who identify as trans, diverse or intersex, 48% reported their identification documents did not reflect their lived/chosen name, and 59% indicated they did not have gender congruent identity documents.
“It’s a pretty big service and a pretty big step that people take in their journey,” Orozco said.
Services
This program consists of legal clinics that assess the needs of and provide services to LGBTQIA folx in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. These services include helping with name-change and gender-marker change processes and fees, identification amendments, and advanced health care directives.
Additionally, the program provides legal services in consumer rights, education, elder law, expungement, family law and domestic violence, guardianship, health, housing, immigration, public benefits, small business, systemic and impact litigation, and taxpayer guidance for LGBTQIA folx.
Legal guidance is provided pro-bono by volunteer attorneys, and all money raised for the program goes toward the name- and gender-marker change expenses.
Initiating a name or gender change costs $435 in San Bernardino County and $450 in Riverside County. Certification costs another $100-plus, Orozco said.
“The clients ICLS serves live 200% below the poverty line,” they said by phone. “All their money is going to basic living expenses and these fees are a burden they can’t afford. So this money goes to those out-of-pocket fees.”
For advanced health care directives, ICLS volunteers “can bake gender-affirming care into the instructions, including continued hormone replacement therapy, and medical staff using correct names and pronouns” for an LGBTQIA patient unable to advocate for their own care. “It’s a way to ensure our clients are respected even if they are incapacitated,” they said.
“These services are not only critical, but life changing,” Orozco said by email the same day. “For transgender and gender expansive individuals, securing a legal name change is an important step toward making their legal identities matching their lived experience. A lack of appropriate identity documents can deter people from applying for jobs, school and public benefits, and can lead to discrimination and even danger. With ICLS’s support, our clients are able to secure gender-concordant identity documents that will allow them to lead safe, affirming and authentic lives.”
Funding
ICLS is holding a series of trivia night events via Zoom, and all proceeds go to the LGBTQIA Legal Services Program. Visit ICLS to get on the alert list for the next event, or watch Follow Our Courts’ event calendar.
The program also accepts online donations at any time here.
To get help from ICLS
Eligible clients are low-income residents of Riverside or San Bernardino counties.
To access free resources, apply for pro bono services, or to find an upcoming clinic, call 888-245-4257 or visit the program’s web page here.
*EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s Follow Our Courts’ policy to respect the language people want used in reference to themselves.
Orozco said, “’Folx’ indicates we are respectful of gender expansive communities. It’s meant to be a more inclusive term.”
