Gender, Judge of the Day, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns

Judge of the Day: What's in a (Traditionally Gender Appropriate) Name?

Why does this Oklahoma judge have a problem with a transgendered man who wants to change his name, along with his gender?

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On one level, your name is pretty damn meaningless. Many people aren’t actually called by their names that often. Instead, people just yell: “Dude,” “Hey You,” “Boss,” “sweet cheeks”… whatever.

But on another level, your name is one of a relatively few possessions that are truly yours.

So what happens if your name simply doesn’t fit into who you are? You can change it, right? Sure, unless you happen to be a transgendered person appearing in front of one particular judge in Oklahoma. Ain’t no gender-bending name games in this Judge of the Day’s courtroom…

NewsOK reports that Judge Bill Graves has a history of of refusing to sign off on name changes:

District Judge Bill Graves has denied name changes in two such cases so far — last year and again in August. The judge ruled both times the requests were made for a fraudulent purpose.

“I wanted to give up and just die,” said James Dean Ingram, who asked to legally be known as Angela Renee Ingram but was turned down Aug. 30.

“It’s so important because it’s who I am. I can’t be who I am with a male name,” Ingram said.

Eesh. Not to make light of Ingram’s situation, but having James Dean as a given name probably doesn’t make matters any easier.

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In any case, why does Judge Graves refuse to complete a task that, despite some political overtones, is relatively simple and uncontroversial. I mean, Ingram wants to be called Angela. That’s not some kooky name like Apple or Moonunit, and he wouldn’t be the first person to have a name that doesn’t fit traditional gender norms. What if James / Angela wanted to be called Pat — would that still be a problem?

For Judge Graves, the rationale is apparently quite simple:

Five other Oklahoma County judges who handle name change requests told The Oklahoman they routinely grant them in transgender cases.

Graves does not, for scientific reasons. He has concluded a person cannot really change his or her sex because the person’s DNA stays the same.

Well, duh! It’s science, stupid. This is an appropriately sophisticated answer from the state that brought us the penis-pumping judge and the attorney who got kicked out of her own arraignment hearing. Come ON, Oklahoma. I know when it comes to progressivism, you’re like the land that Texarkana forgot, but can y’all get with the program at least a little bit?

This isn’t even a big deal. It’s this dude/chick’s NAME. If you want to fight about gender issues, pick a fight that actually affects anyone other than this one person who is really not asking for very much.

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Oklahoma judge refuses to let men planning sex-change operations have feminine names [NewsOK]

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