A recent ruling by the Mississippi Supreme Court has stirred significant discussion regarding parental rights, especially in the context of supporting transgender children. The court has decided that a transgender teenager cannot legally change his name to something more masculine, with the ruling citing a “lack of maturity” as the primary reason. This decision came after an 8-1 vote to uphold a previous ruling by Hinds County Chancery Judge Tametrice Hodges, which was issued in November 2023 when the boy was 16 years old.
The teenager, known in court documents by the initials S.M.-B., is either 18 or nearing 18, based on the July 2023 filing date. Despite this, the age of majority in Mississippi is 21, meaning he cannot legally change his name until 2028. Mississippi law permits minors to change their name with parental consent, which S.M.-B. had. However, the state Supreme Court maintained that changing the name “as part of a gender transition was not in the [plaintiff’s] best interest due to a lack of maturity,” while repeatedly misgendering the teen in legal documents.
The court emphasized that the chancellor’s discretion allowed the petition to be denied, even though it was uncontested and supported by both parents. The majority opinion clarified that Mississippi law supports this discretion, which aligns with the state’s public policy against allowing minors to receive life-altering gender-transition assistance.
This decision is informed by the Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (REAP) Act, enacted in 2023, which prohibits medical gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers or hormone treatments for those under 18. However, the plaintiff’s case focused solely on his social transition — involving changes in hair, clothing, name, and pronouns — rather than any medical procedures.
Justice Leslie King, the sole dissenter in the ruling, highlighted in his opinion that no medical procedures were involved in this case. He noted the absence of any reference to the REAP Act in the original case and pointed out that the trial court did not take evidence or testimony from family members, conducting the proceedings off the record instead.
Major medical associations, including the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization, support gender-affirming care as evidence-based and medically necessary for both minors and adults. Studies suggest that social transition can alleviate depression and anxiety in transgender youth.
In commenting on the ruling, McKenna Gray, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Mississippi, stated that the denial of a name change based on transgender identity has been rejected in all other U.S. jurisdictions except Mississippi. Gray criticized the decision as a setback for those valuing dignity, equality, and personal freedom, emphasizing that it disrupts family integrity by allowing a judge to override parental decisions without substantial evidence.
