Italian City Allows Transgender Commuters to Choose Their Name on Travel Pass

At Vacationer Magazine, we love hearing about positive change for true acceptance and to be fully seen. And no matter how small the effort may be, it’s a step toward progress, like Ravenna becoming the first city in Italy to allow transgender people to select their chosen name to appear on their travel pass. The hope is that something similar will be instituted across Italy, now that the small town in the Emilia-Romagna region has adopted the new measure.

Start Romagna, the local public transport company in Ravenna, has agreed to issue special season bus passes for transgender people on which their chosen name will appear. The region’s Vice President Elly Schlein, transport councilor Andrea Corsini, and equal opportunities councilor Barbara Lori fully support the move and released a joint statement.

“Giving transgender people the opportunity to travel with their chosen name and not necessarily the personal one represents a real revolution on public transport passes in Italy but above all a great step forward in the path of rights for gender self-determination. Now the hope is that this can be an example for all other transport companies in the region and in Italy.”

The change comes on the heels of Italy’s move to update its Highway Code to ban roadside advertising that is discriminatory towards LGBTQ+ people’s gender identity and sexual orientation. 

The story of a 15-year-old Greta who had gone through the process of gender transitioning over the last three years but who is still identified as male on legal documents. One day she forgot to buy a ticket on her regular commute to school and was sanctioned by the bus inspector. He was unaware of her situation, but she was forced to give her official name, and the incident had a traumatic effect on the young commuter.