Brody's Notes... Citing God & Science- Oklahoma Judge Refuses To Allow Transgender Citizens To Change Their Names

District Court Judge Bill Graves

By Brody Levesque | An Oklahoma County District Court judge repeatedly denied names changes in cases where a man was planning transitional gender surgery and desired a feminine name to reflect the new identity. District Judge Bill Graves ruled the requests were made for fraudulent purpose in two separate cases.

According to The Oklahoman, Graves wrote in one seven-page order;

“A so-called sex-change surgery can make one appear to be the opposite sex, but in fact they are nothing more than an imitation of the opposite sex. A so-called sex-change surgery can make one appear to be the opposite sex, but in fact they are nothing more than an imitation of the opposite sex,” the judge wrote in a seven-page order last year. 

Here, petitioner has not even had the surgery by which his sex purports to be changed. Thus, based on the foregoing and the DNA evidence, a sex change cannot make a man a woman or a woman a man all of which, the Court finds is sufficient in and of itself to deny petitioner’s request for a name change,” Graves wrote. 

To grant a name change in this case would be to assist that which is fraudulent,” Graves wrote. “It is notable that Genesis 1:27-28 states: ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth ...’ The DNA code shows God meant for them to stay male and female.”

Graves claimed that a 'name-change' would law cause enforcement problems as investigators would search for males based on DNA evidence instead of searching for female suspects. The judge went on offering that [a] name change would circumvent prohibitions against same-sex marriage laws or could result in someone unwittingly marrying a person “who appeared to be of the opposite sex but was actually of the same sex.”

The Oklahoman noted that five other Oklahoma County judges who handle name change requests said that they routinely grant them in transgender cases.

In his interview Graves said he stands by his position. “If you’re born male, you stay male, according to the study I’ve done on DNA. If you’re born female, you stay female.”

One of the people petitioning for a name change, James Dean Ingram, 29, from Oklahoma, said the judge's refusal to allow her to change her name to Angela Renee Ingram made her want to 'give up and die'.

Ingram said she wants to get a sex change but cannot afford surgery yet. She believes the judge may reconsider if she goes through the sex-change procedure.

Ingram is already known as Angela to her friends.