OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma appeals court has ruled that a woman who became female through gender-reassignment surgery also has the right to change her name.
A three-judge panel of the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals handed down the ruling Friday in connection with an application filed by James Dean Ingram for a change of name to Angela Renee Ingram.
The unanimous ruling reverses a decision by Oklahoma County District Judge Bill Graves. In a November 2012 order, Graves denied the application and said an attempt to change one's name based on sex change surgery is fraudulent.
The appeals court ordered Graves to grant the name change application. The case is the second in the past two years in which the appeals court has reversed Graves on a name change issue.