ORLANDO, Fla. — The weight of a word, or even more notable — a name. It’s who you are, but not who Samantha Stone is any longer.

What You Need To Know

  •  Gender Advancement Project was founded in 2020

  •  The organization assists members of the transgender community with changing their names legally, including paying for filing fees

  •  Samantha Stone worked in nightclubs, but a new opportunity is propelling her to make a name change official

  • Stone filed to change her legal name at the Orange County Courthouse in late May

“It’s very awkward and uncomfortable to have to speak of yourself as a name you don’t identify with,” she said. “I don’t feel like that person anymore, and I don’t want to be called that person anymore.”

Stone is transgender and worked in nightclubs all her life, where one’s name, she contends, matters less.

But a new opportunity is propelling the woman to want to make her preferred name official, and local organizations are offering support that has historically been lacking for the transgender community.

Ashley Figueroa co-founded the Gender Advancement Project, or GAP, in 2020 to be an organization by and for the Central Florida transgender community. She helps facilitate legal name changes, paying for the extensive and sometimes costly paperwork, which can run upward of $600 or $700, she said. Figueroa also serves as a guide for those navigating the process.

“The transgender community already faces lots of discrimination. So whatever we can do, this is why our work is so important,” she said. “We have helped over 150 people since we started … A name is something that validates who you are, your identity. So, it’s important to be able to identify and be able to be respected with that. If you don’t have the right name in your legal documents, it opens up the door to more discrimination.”

That discrimination is something that Mulan Williams has experienced firsthand. It’s why she launched Divas in Dialogue for Black and brown trans women, operating out of Stafford House.

The location off of Colonial Drive in downtown Orlando offers free testing for sexually transmitted diseases and serves as a backdrop for several name change clinics over the course of the year.

“I know the struggles of not having your name changed. I know, when I first came into the work area, I didn’t have my name change,” Williams said. “It was intimidating to show your ID and not have that ID show who you really are.”

Stone filed paperwork in Orange County to change her name in May as Pride Month approached in June.

She said she’s ready for what’s on her name tag to reflect who she has been for quite some time.

Figueroa said that Stone is awaiting a court date for a hearing, which is standard procedure.

“It’s hard to put into words, but solidifies… it’s who I am,” Stone said. “Makes my name match me. This is my name. Putting something in the past in the past.”

GAP has a name change clinic scheduled for July 13, and 25 people have signed up already.