Mastercard has announced that it will begin allowing transgender people and those who identify as non-binary to use names other than their legal name for credit cards.
Here’s what we know
“What we’re introducing is a card that represents an individual as who they truly are,” Raj Seshadri, the president of U.S. issuers at Mastercard said, according to Time. “This is something that should be accessible to everyone in the way they want it and there shouldn’t be any pain in that.”
In a press release published on Monday, Mastercard announced the rollout of this “True Name” card policy. It said that this would “ease a major pain point for the transgender and non-binary community.”
The change, according to the press release, came after leadership at the company became aware of a study from 2015 which said that 32 percent of people who identified as transgender and tried to use a form of ID that did not match either their name or their gender reported being harassed.
Mastercard assured users that the new policy would not in any way affect the security of the cards. This new policy is still under development and Mastercard did not announce a specific date when it would take effect.
“We are allies of the LGBTQIA+ community, which means if we see a need or if this community is not being served in the most inclusive way, we want to be a force for change to help address and alleviate unnecessary pain points,” Randall Tucker, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for Mastercard said in the press release. “This translates not only for our Mastercard employee community but for our cardholders and the communities in which we operate more broadly. Our vision is that every card should be for everyone.”
*story by The Blaze