Rowan Elijah Feldhaus submitted a name change petition which Columbia County Superior Court Judge J. David Roper rejected. Rowan's previous name had been Rebeccah Elizabeth Feldhaus.

The question presented is whether a female has the salutatory right to change her name to a traditionally and obviously male name. The court concludes that she does not have such right.

--Judge Roper

Lambda Legal submitted a filing to the Georgia Court of Appeals challenging the denial yesterday.

Feldhaus is 24, a sergeant in the US Army Reserve and works at an Augusta-area hotel. He is being treated for gender dysphoria, receiving hormone treatments...and lives his life as a man.

About a year and a half ago, one of his best friends, who was a bit tipsy at the time, said that if Feldhaus was a guy, he could see him as a Rowan. It was right at the moment when Feldhaus was coming out to friends and family and struggling to find a name that felt comfortable and that name just clicked, he told The Associated Press by phone.

He chose Elijah as a middle name because it sounds similar to his given middle name.

The judge's decision made him feel "insulted and objectified," he said

Roper said he does not approve of changing a name for someone who is anatomically one sex to a name that is obviously used for the opposite sex. He said it can be misleading for the public and can be dangerous if people don't know whether they're dealing with a man or a woman, according to a transcript of a February hearing on Feldhaus' petition.

I will allow a gender-neutral name change that will benefit the general public because I don't want them to have to go through the embarrassing issue of trying to figure out what to do with you when you present, in your appearance today, with a female name, particularly if you had on a uniform and you were dressed like a man.

For that reason, Roper said he would approve a change to Rowan because it is sufficiently gender neutral, but he rejected Feldhaus' chosen middle name, Elijah, because it is clearly a man's name.

Name changes which allow a person to assume the role of a person of the opposite sex are, in effect, a type of fraud on the general public. Such name changes also offend the sensibilities and mores of a substantial portion of the citizens of this state.

--Judge Roper

Feldhaus' attorneys argue that Roper abused his discretion when he denied the name change petition because the denial was arbitrary and based on insufficient and improper reasons rather than being based on evidence of fraud or improper motive. The legal discretion accorded to judges is not an invitation to rule based on private opinions, the appeal says. The lawyers say the judge's denial constitutes sex discrimination and a violation of the petitioner's constitutional rights.

Feldhaus had also submitted a statement to the judge from his therapist saying that changing his name is "crucial" for his course of treatment.