From the great state of Oklahoma (Oklahoma judge refuses to let men planning sex-change operations have feminine names):
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.
….
“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.”
The Red Pen
Too bad Johnny Cash is dead. This guy could have him locked up for contempt of court due to his song A Boy Named Sue.
jibeaux
Quoting the bible in a judicial opinion, yep, that’s a good idea. The trial court opinion leading to Loving v. Virginia is a classic, where the judge explains that God in his infinite wisdom made different colored people, and put them on separate continents so that they would never mix.
Chyron HR
He must be one of those “elite smart people” who “believe they should have the power to tell you what to do.”
cathyx
Here they go quoting the bible again to justify their decisions. So do they get to pick the name they can change too?
Scratch
I say that Bill Grave’s name should be changed to Asshole.
WereBear
Rationalization is all they got, since they are no longer even remotely rational.
MattF
‘Totalitarian’ gives it undue dignity. More like ‘dumb’, ‘provincial’, ‘bigoted’.
Cassidy
Not being a lawyer, isn’t it good news that he quoted the bible? Doesn’t that automatically color the decision as something less than impartial?
cathyx
And with the way people are naming their children anymore, who’s to say that it’s feminine of not? I was having this exact discussion with my daughter a little while ago. I told her that when I was in school, the names Kim and Tracy were boy’s names. And Madison and Taylor were too.
jonas
So in Oklahoma, you can’t call yourself “Chris” or (ha!) “Pat” because the gender ambiguity violates the laws of God? And what does he think about people with Kleinfelter’s Syndrome (having an extra X chromosome)? Or intersexed people?
SP
I got to the third paragraph and thought, “Boy, all he needs to go full wingnut is to pull out the appropriate biblical quote.” So predictable.
Rafer Janders
Look, it’s not like the judge forced them to have healthcare. That would be the real tyranny.
Face
Didn’t OK pass a law outlawing the use of foreign legal principles in their courts? Does the Bible not qualify as “foreign”, in that I’m pretty sure the OK Legislature did not actually pass The Bible in our Law Law yet?
Seriously, scripture is now legal precedent? WTF?
Jerzy Russian
Well, it is Adam and Eve, and not Adam and Steve and all that. I loved the citation of the Bible in a legal opinion.
That meteor cannot come soon enough. To add insult to injury, deep cuts will be coming to NASA and the National Science Foundation soon unless Congress gets its shit together, including (probably) funding for inexpensive programs to look for near-Earth asteroids.
Dracula
No, legally, it’s not notable at all.
So when does the first liberal judge quote some New Testament Jesus passage to justify holding up some Medicaid or SCHIP bylaw and the right goes apoplectic?
The Red Pen
@Cassidy:
I am also not a lawyer, but quoting the Bible isn’t an automatic foul. You can quote it for cultural context or to enunciate some social principle.
You can’t cite the Bible as the defining legal principle. It’s not an issue of bias, it’s an issue of separation of church and state.
ribber
Who wants to tell this judge that John Wayne’s real name was Marion?
Patricia Kayden
But they want small government. Right.
wenchacha
@jonas: This. The Bible-humpers who keep telling us that god makes no mistakes never mention the people who have anomalies that defy binary gender norms. Is it that they don’t know about these issues? Do they just ignore what doesn’t fit in their limited world view? I hope this judge’s “ruling” is overturned, reversed, whatever it takes.
Ash Can
Can you imagine if the judge had quoted from the Quran instead?
Cassidy
@Ash Can: We are all transgender now.
WereBear
@ribber: Delightful!
Sly
From the state that brought us the first ban on Sharia law….
Jerzy Russian
@ribber:
I have also heard of men named Beverly and Ashley.
gnomedad
@jonas:
Perhaps the extra X can be prayed away.
Felinious Wench
@wenchacha:
Neither. They know about it (though not educated, “know” means their circle discusses it as “those freaks”), they don’t ignore it, they condemn it as unnatural. Natural as defined as Genesis, which is a mythological story found in many, many cultures, including Greek, African, and Native American.
This is a lot more about bigotry than the Bible, as always. I can pretty safely say there’s nothing in the Bible about transgendered people and sex changes.
maya
Leslie and Carol were originally male names. Prolly do a google to find even more.
I wonder what the Great Jehovah thought of, Heather, Courtney and Brittany,(with an ‘i’ too)? Were they mentioned in the bible? If not, they should not be allowed in Graves’ Okie-dokie.
Raya
Meanwhile, as others have suggested, it is perfectly legal (in THIS country — not everywhere!) to name your daughter Michael, your son Sparrow, or indeed all 5 of your children Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig. Just as God intended.
Felinious Wench
@Raya: Raya Says:
Or ESPN. http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/15168029/
Librarian
George Sand and George Eliot might have something to say about this.
Mnemosyne
@jonas:
That was my first question, too — if DNA tells us all we need to know, what does it tell us about people who have extra X or Y copies in their DNA? Does God stutter?
And, as others have said, “male” and “female” names have switched quite frequently over the years. In the Anne of Green Gables series of books that was written in the early 1900s, one of the heroine’s sons is given her maiden name as his first name.
Her maiden name? Shirley.
TheStone
@jibeaux: To which the proper response would be “so why didn’t God drill a hole in every seafaring vessel ever built?”
reflectionephemeral
Yep. That’s why Republican congressmen who want to display the Ten Commandments in courthouses and in Congress have no idea what the Ten Commandments are. It’s not about political philosophy, it’s about identity, being part of a tribe, and rubbing it in non-members’ faces.
Or, the point of the resentment is the resentment.
The Red Pen
@TheStone:
God Hates Boats!
mdblanche
@jonas: And de la Chapelle syndrome, and Swyer syndrome.
Narcissus
Isn’t Oklahoma the state where a 5 year old boy got into administrative trouble at school for wearing a Michigan shirt?
Herbal Infusion Bagger
The DNA code shows Genesis is BS, also.
Herbal Infusion Bagger
Let’s not forget Marion Mitchell Morrison, aka John Wayne.
Herbal Infusion Bagger
Ice T’s first name is Tracy.
R-Jud
Jocelyn (or Joslyn, Josceline, etc.) was also a popular man’s name in England in the 16th and 17th Centuries. And of course, those Frenchies still use it.
Marianne
The good news is that this was outrageous enough, even in Oklahoma, that it was above the fold front page news in the largest newspaper in the state.
gVOR08
Read George Lakoff, “Whose Freedom”. They believe they have a duty to impose correct beliefs on everyone. And to them “freedom” means being free to do their duty.
Gwiwer
These people are, in some ways, even worse than the Islamic extremists. I mean, jeez… Look at Iran. Even they believe sex changes are “legitimate” in so far as a gay person can escape being sentenced to death by undergoing a sex change which, apparently, the government will pay for. I suppose the only consolation is that American wingnuts aren’t yet demanding we apply the death penalty to gay people, but I don’t doubt many of them would support that idea if they thought they could get away with doing so. I mean, many of them hint at the idea whenever the topic of homosexuality comes up, so you could be sure at least some of them are thinking that way privately even if they can’t openly voice support for it.
Herbal Infusion Bagger
Don’t tell him about Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome where a XY genotype can have a female phenotype, ‘cos God used a faulty gene for triggering the development of male thingys.
Herbal Infusion Bagger
Well, U.S. evangelicals held an anti-gay conference in Uganda, after which Ugandan conservatives pushed for the death penalty for homosexuality.