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ACLU steps in to help grooms get new names
Posted as "Non-WoT", but consider how this could be used / abused...
LOS ANGELES — If John Smith falls in love with Marie Bakalaka and wishes to become John Bakalaka, should that cost him money? Should his wishes come with so much grief?
Um, whaddabout Mohammed al Jihadi marrying up with a newly-minted dhimmi named Debbie Johnson... That'd be just peachy, too, right? He'd be Mo Johnson. Something the email spammers say all us XY-types want, lol. And it'd be free if the Stalinists succeed... I'm just sayin...
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Health Services in a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Friday asking for a change to state laws that dictate the process of changing a name through marriage.

Under current law, a woman who chooses to change her last name when she marries is not obligated to petition the courts for the change. But, the suit said, a man who wants to take the surname of his wife has to pay at least $320 in court fees and advertise the name change in a newspaper.

Currently, only six states — Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York and North Dakota — recognize a man's right to change his name through marriage without a court petition.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Michael Buday, 29, who longs to take the name of his wife, Diana Bijon, 28. "It's not about the money," Buday said in a prepared statement. "It's about the principle of families being able to make their own decisions."
Posted by: .com 2006-12-18
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=175419