Connor Hayes
he/him/his
Attorney, Lynch Carpenter LLP
Connor Hayes went to law school with the intention of doing legal work to improve his communities and to protect and advance the rights of LGBTQIA+ people. Today, Connor helps members of the queer community with pro-bono gender-affirming name changes in addition to his work representing consumers in class actions.
“That was kind of the way I wanted to engage in the world and to hopefully do some good,” he said.
Connor acknowledged that queer people may not have trust in the court system, and that going through legal proceedings for a name change might seem like just another hurdle.
“There’s a lot of rightly placed frustration against the legal system and fear from queer and trans folks,” he said. “We live in a very tough time across the board for queer and trans folks, and especially trans folk have become a political football. I think through those and other experiences in the court system, maybe folks don’t think the legal system is a way to get their needs met.”
That’s where Connor comes in. He walks his clients through the name change process, which can take several months due to the paperwork involved. There are also certain steps in the process that must take place in person, and to make the process safer for gender-affirming name changes, the records are sealed.
“In a normal name change in PA, you actually have to publish an announcement of a name change,” Connor explained. “For someone who is trans, it’s not the best type of situation for them to have to do that. One of the things I get to do is actually navigate that kind of sealing procedure. That’s one of the special things we have to protect people.”
Connor said that while it’s easy to feel disheartened about the current climate, he sees a lot of reason for hope, including in the legal and government systems.
“I think some of my friends who work in activist spaces make fun of me for this, but as a lawyer, I feel optimistic,” he said, noting that judges in different parts of the country have issued rulings protecting medical records for trans individuals and pushed back against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “There are still actors within our government and legal system who are working to help queer and trans folks."
He also stresses that government and the legal system aren’t the only spaces where people can create change.
“There’s other things to be looking at, and those other things give me a lot of hope right now,” Connor said. “A lot of the most important work is outside of government – it’s in mutual aid, it's in community organizing. Since 2016 and even further back, I’ve witnessed some incredible organizing here in Pittsburgh.”
Meanwhile, Connor plans on continuing to do his part locally to ensure that the court system has programs that support queer and trans folks.
“I try to remind myself all the time that a law degree is a powerful thing,” he said. “I’m not 100 percent certain what’s next, but what I do know is doing this sort of work on behalf of my community of queer folks and trans folks and the LGBT community is so important to me, and it’s always going to form a cornerstone of whatever I’m doing.