Petition urging Google to stop using deadnames on ID badges has more than 700 signatures – By Amanda Bartlett (SFGATE) / June 2 2021
A petition urging Google to allow its staff to use their chosen names on their identification badges — among other calls to improve workplace culture for contracted employees — is swiftly gaining traction after Phares Lee, a transgender man employed by G4S in a contracted security position for Google, said he asked to have his deadname removed from his own badge and was repeatedly denied.
Spearheaded by the Alphabet Workers Union on Tuesday, the petition titled “Drop the Deadnames” now has 700 signatures, many of which are from individuals employed by Google. (A deadname refers to the name a transgender individual was given at birth and is no longer the name they use upon transitioning. Sharing someone’s deadname can be painful for that individual, as well as potentially out them as transgender to those who do not know.)
“I’ve been facing workplace issues that feel like discrimination to my gender identity,” said Lee in a statement in the petition, adding that he also had to change his deadname to his chosen name in Moma, Google’s intranet search engine, as well as Teams, only to find the change had been reversed by the company. “But it’s not just about me as an individual.”
