Next month MASTERCARD, in a long overdue move, will allow members of the trans community at some banks to update the names on their debit cards to match their genders, even if they haven’t obtained a legal name change. It’s a development that they created with the advice and support of GLAAD.
Mastercard said in a statement. the “True Name” feature came about because for many trans and nonbinary people, the card in their pocket can serve as a source of sensitivity rather than an affirmation of who they are,”
BMO Harris Bank will start offering the feature in December, and Superbia Credit Union, which specifically targets LGBTQ customers, will follow suit next year.
Research shows that transgender and gender nonconforming people encounter substantial bias as a result of having identification that doesn’t reflect who they are. The U.S. Transgender Survey in 2015 found that just 11% of transgender Americans had updated all of their ID documents to match their names and pronouns.
Labels: 2019, Mastercard, transgender
