The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled April 17 that a minor female undergoing a so-called gender transition may not change her name to a more masculine name.
The Mississippi Supreme Court voted 8–1 to deny the petition of the minor, identified as S.M.-B., after Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Tametrice Hodges denied the name change request on Nov. 21, 2023.
Maxwell recounted the facts of the case.
At the age of 16, in July 2023, the minor, who is female, initiated a petition through her mother to change her legal name to a more masculine name. Her father also gave his consent to the change. The mother said she wanted to change the child’s name “due to her [daughter’s] gender identification as a male.” She said her daughter’s “given name makes her transition more difficult,” according to the opinion.
The county judge held a hearing on Nov. 6, 2023. The minor’s attorney told the court that the petition had been filed as part of the minor’s gender transition. The minor “is seeking to change her name … because she identified as a male, and would like to be known as a male and through school, through college, preparing for college and so forth,” the opinion said.
On Nov. 21, 2023, the judge signed an order dismissing the name change petition without prejudice, meaning the petition may be refiled in the future. The judge said she had “determined in her discretion that the Petitioner should mature before [a] name change would be determined by the Court.” The minor appealed, the opinion said.
“Most [chancery court judges] grant uncontested minor name changes as a matter of course. Some [chancery court judges], as we have here, believe it is within their discretion to decide whether to grant or deny the name change. The Mississippi Supreme Court must make clear the legal standard for this issue.”
The Mississippi Supreme Court said in its new decision that “the petitioner’s primary appellate argument is that the [judge] had no discretion to deny the name-change petition because it was uncontested and both parents agreed.”
“But Mississippi law says otherwise,” the opinion said.
The court previously held that an individual is generally free to change her name but that principle “does not apply to minors,” according to the opinion.
“Instead, it applies to ‘any person of mature years.’”
Contrary to the minor’s argument, the county judge has discretion “to grant or deny a minor’s requested name change,” and may only approve a petition to change a minor’s name when doing so is “clearly in the best interest of the child,” the opinion said.
Justice Leslie King dissented, saying the court record was “deficient.”
The minor, her mother, and father were prepared to testify but instead the trial court “conducted a bench conference off the record, apparently took no evidence, and concluding the hearing thereafter,” King wrote.
“It is clear that further development of the facts in this case are necessary,” the justice wrote.
King wrote that he would have vacated the trial court’s decision and sent the case back to that court for further hearings.
“I find that the record is deficient and that the deficiency renders this Court unable to properly determine whether the chancery court dismissed the petition for correct or incorrect reasons,” he wrote.
