Texas Court Disallows Official Gender Change

(CN) — A transgender individual who identifies as a man cannot legally change his gender designation along with his name, a Texas appeals court ruled.

Last year, Alex Winston Hunter, formerly known as Aidyn Rocher, petitioned a Texas court not only for a name change, which was granted, but also requested a gender designation change.

Hunter sought to change his "sexual designation" from female to male, but the court denied his petition.

Texas' 14th Court of Appeals upheld the denial last week.

Although Texas law "appears to contemplate the possibility of orders relating to gender designation, it does not itself authorize or provide any procedures or rules for Texas courts to issue such orders," Judge Martha Hill Jamison said, writing for a three-judge panel.

Same-sex couples have been legally allowed to marry in Texas since 2014, meaning that Hunter can marry a woman even after changing his sex.

However, the ruling legalizing same-sex marriage "did not suggest that the section authorized a trial court to order a change in a person's gender designation," Jamison said, even though it contemplates the marriage of a person who has changed their sex.

The appeals panel rejected Hunter's argument that he might change his gender designation through the Texas procedures for amending a birth certificate, finding that he "did not present any evidence in the trial supporting the proposition that Hunter's current gender designation is inaccurate."

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit