LGBT rights group appeals denial of transgender name change

ATLANTA – An LGBT rights group is asking an appeals court to step in after a Georgia judge declined a legal name change for a second transgender man.

Lambda Legal says it filed an appeal Thursday of a June order by Columbia County Superior Court Judge J. David Roper rejecting a petition from the 21-year-old transgender man seeking to legally change his name to Andrew Baumert.

Lambda Legal in June appealed a similar March ruling from Roper in the case of another transgender man, Rowan Feldhaus, whose birth name was Rebeccah Elizabeth Feldhaus.

Lambda Legal says in both cases Roper said he would allow a transgender person to choose a gender-neutral name. But he said allowing a transgender man to choose a male name would “confuse or mislead the general public.”