May 6, 2008 9:26 am US/Central
Man Sues For Right To Take His Wife's Last Name
Michael Buday Is Now Michael Bijon -- Thank You Very Much!
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
Shakespeare asked "What's in a name?" but for one Marina del Rey man, the answer is, well, relative.
Michael Buday wanted to take his wife's surname after marriage but found that the DMV wouldn't issue him a new license in that name.
Women get to change their names all the time, and Buday figured it was his right to change his. Plus, he promised his new wife that he would take her name, Bijon, because their were no sons in her father's family to carry on the Bijon name.
So, what's in a name? A three-year legal battle for starters. Today, Buday, uh, Bijon was granted the right to become Michael Bijon. Strike up one for women's liberation.
The couple were married on Aug. 20, 2005 and now, for the first time legally, the Bijons are united in name and relationship.
Prior to his lawsuit, if Buday wanted to make the change to Bijon, he would have had to pay court fees of more than $300, advertise his plans in newspaper for four weeks
and get judicial approval.
The traditional method of Bijon taking on Buday's name would have cost
somewhere between about $50 and $90. And that's it. No newspaper announcement, no judicial approval.
With help from the American Civil Liberties Union, the couple filed a federal lawsuit in 2006 alleging sex-based discrimination in the issuance of marriage and driver's licenses.
In settlement agreements, changes have been made in state Department of Motor Vehicle and Department of Health Services policies and forms allowing Buday to become Michael Bijon.
"This was an easy choice for Diana and me to make," Mr. Bijon said Monday outside of court. "I never imagined the state would make it so difficult. It was a symbolic gesture, but it's also very real for us. It's about what our children will be named, about starting a new family on our own terms. For us, it was very traditional."
According to the ACLU, the DMV gave workers additional training on department policies to help husbands, wives and domestic partners change the names on their driver's licenses. And since Jan. 1, DHS has used new marriage license application forms making it possible for a husband to take his bride's last name.
"What's in a name is the message that a marriage is a union between equals," said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director for the ACLU of Southern
California. "These settlements dispose of the rule in California that the male surname is the marital name to the same trash bin here dowries were once tossed out.
"California now has a marriage license for the 21st century, not the 15th century," he said.
The dispute also led to the passage of a state law -- the Name Equality Act -- that will take effect next year and gives married couples and registered domestic partners the right to choose their names. Similar laws are already in effect in six other states: Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York and North Dakota.
"Women have fought for so long for equal rights, and it feels like this is part of that fight," Diana Bijon said. "When we got married, the law basically said, `Don't be silly, only a woman can change her name when she gets married.' I'm proud to be part of changing that."
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