Angela was planning a sex-change operation and went before an Oklahoma county district judge last month to change her name. Although such requests are common and usually granted, Judge Graves denied the request, quoting the Bible to back his decision. And it wasn’t the first time this GOP judge circumvented Oklahoma law on this issue.
The law is quite clear. It only prohibits name changes when made by those trying to avoid legal responsibility - in other words, for fraudulent purposes.
But it appears Graves is twisting the law to suit his biases, while claiming his decision is based on science. He says that changing a name to go with a sex change is fraudulent because sex change operations don't alter DNA.
Oklahoma‘s ACLU told KOKH News that this is a clear case of discrimination, which "'exists anytime an actor of the state in this case a judge refuses to treat people equally.’”
Tell Oklahoma’s Chief Justice to put an end to discrimination and religious bias in its courts.
We, the undersigned, expect judges to refrain from making decisions based on religious bias and sexual discrimination. And we expect them to base their decisions on laws rather than one-sided arguments.
News sources report that in Graves rulings regarding name change requests for those planning sex change surgery, he quotes Genesis 1:27-28 from the Bible and interprets it, in his own words, to mean that “The DNA code shows God meant for [male and female] to stay male and female.” Not only does Graves quote the Bible, rather than the law on this matter, but he presents himself as an authority on interpreting Biblical scripture.
Beside basing his decisions on religious bias, Judge Graves also ignores recent research on what defines male and female and instead uses an outdated dictionary definition and one osteopath’s opinion to support his biases.
In 2005 the American Association for the Advancement of Science Congress “looked at gender issues and how we define male and female.”
Among others testifying at that session, Dr Eric Vilain, Chief of Medical Genetics at the University of California Los Angeles, an authority in this area, said the following:
Recent advances in the field of genetics of sexual development have shown the extreme complexity of defining males and females from a biological standpoint. There is no one biological parameter that clearly defines sex.
Graves’ use of Webster’s, which defines sex according to which role is played in the reproduction process, is also a flawed argument, because many people of both sexes are unable to reproduce.
The judge even admits in his ruling that he wanted to avoid complicity “in legitimizing sex changes through changes of names.”
Graves’ statements and rulings are clearly biased and discriminatory.
We request that Oklahoma’s Chief Justice and Administrative Office of the Courts reprimand Judge Graves and put an end to religious bias and sex discrimination in Oklahoma courts.
