Judge Who Blocked Name Changes for Transgender Teens Faces Lawsuit
A judge who blocked name changes for transgender teenager is facing a lawsuit. Judge Joseph Kirby, the Probate and Juvenile Court judge in Warren County, Ohio, is alleged to have denied legal name changes to at least three transgender teens. He denied 15-year old Elliott Whitaker a legal name change at Warren County Juvenile Court in June, telling the teen to come back when he is 18. State law does not require people to be 18 to secure a legal change of name, which is separate from legal gender recognition, but the judge ruled that the teen lacked the “maturity, knowledge and stability” […]