Carl Charles (’14), Senior Attorney at Lambda Legal, was quoted by NBC News discussing the “incredibly uncommon” requirements in Mississippi bill mandating letters from two medical professionals as well as chancery clerk approval to update a minor’s gender marker or legal name (“Miss. Bill Would Block Incarcerated People, Minors from Legally Changing Their Name,” Jan. 21). “I’m sorry, but what on earth could a chancery clerk possibly know about a transgender minor’s gender, or need to know? And there’s no guidance here, which is really disturbing because a young person could show up to a chancery clerk, and that chancery clerk could ask them all kinds of personal, offensive questions, and the young person would feel a great deal of pressure to answer.” Carl also noted the “particularly cruel” name of the bill. “It is certainly really pointed in the sense that trans people as a group have long been countering the myth and the stereotype and, frankly, the interpersonal violence that they are lying about who they are,” he said. “So for a Mississippi state legislator to name this the ‘Real You Act of 2022’ adds insult to injury.”
