Okla. judge denies transgender name change

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OKLAHOMA CITY, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- An Oklahoma judge has refused to allow two men who plan to undergo gender reassignment surgery to take female names.

District Judge Bill Graves denied one such request last year and another in August, the (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman newspaper reported. He labeled such requests "fraudulent."

"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," Graves wrote in a seven-page order last year. He contended because the individual's DNA is not altered, it "shows God meant for them to stay male and female."

He also said someone who's undergone a sex change could dupe someone into marrying someone "of the same sex."

James Dean Ingram, a man who sought to change his name to Angela Renee Ingram, was turned down Aug. 30 by Graves.

"I wanted to give up and just die,'' Ingram told the newspaper. "It's so important because it's who I am. I can't be who I am with a male name."

Five other judges on the court said they routinely grant name change requests in such instances.

The first case is on appeal.