Just 10 days after Caitlyn Jenner filed a formal request to change her name and gender, a Los Angeles judge granted her petition. The former Olympic decathlete’s new name will be Caitlyn Marie Jenner, replacing her birth name, William Bruce Jenner.
In a petition filed on 15 September, Jenner wrote that she wanted to change her name and gender “to better match my identity”. Following Friday’s decision, Jenner, 65, will be able to get a driver’s license and social security card in her new name.
Jenner, who did not attend the hearing in person, was represented by two lawyers. Los Angeles County superior court Judge Gerald Rosenberg presided over a brief hearing.
Some details that accompanied Jenner’s petition to legally change her name and gender were redacted after she cited privacy concerns and threats she says she has received during her transition.
“Although public support for my transition has been overwhelmingly supportive, I am also receiving unwelcome negative attention from private citizens, including threats of bodily harm,” Jenner wrote in a sworn declaration.
A background check is needed to legally change one’s name. Jenner also had to submit a medical declaration. Both were filed under seal.
In the months following the public announcement of her transition, Jenner has often spoken about dangers that trans people face.
“They’re getting bullied, they’re getting beaten up, they’re getting murdered, they’re committing suicide,” she said in July after being awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage award at the ESPY awards run by ESPN.
At the time, she said she could handle name-calling and jokes. “But for thousands of kids out there coming to terms with the reality of who they are they shouldn’t have to take it,” she said.
Jenner has documented her transition on an eight-part TV series, I Am Cait, which premiered this summer. In the first episode, she said: “I just hope I get it right”.
“Am I going to do everything right? Am I going to say the right things? Do I project the right image? My mind’s just spinning with thoughts.”
