MS Supreme Court Rules Trans Boy Cannot Change Name Until Age 21

The Mississippi state Supreme Court ruled that a transgender boy cannot change his name legally to something more masculine until he reaches age 21.

State law normally allows a minor to legally register a change of name with the support of both parents. In this instance, both parents supported the name change.

The name change was uncontested. Both parents supported it. But the chancellor refused to allow it, which led to the case that rose to the court.

The state Supreme Court barred it too, saying the name change “as part of a gender transition was not in the [plaintiff’s] best interest due to a lack of maturity.” The Court persistently used the teen’s pre-transition gender in its ruling.

The court’s reasoning was that denying the name change was “consistent with Mississippi’s express public policy against children receiving life-altering gender-transition assistance.” The specific law involved in the 2023 Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (REAP) Act which  bans medical gender-affirming care for gender transition.

A legal change of name has nothing to do with medical transition. It is part of social transition, which also includes changes to hair, clothes and pronouns.

Justice Leslie King cast the only vote not with the majority in the case. writing in dissent that “no medical procedures are at issue in this case.” King said the “court conducted a bench conference off the record, apparently took no evidence, and concluded the hearing thereafter.”

Click here for more details.