Senate Bill 2356

AN ACT TO ENACT THE REAL YOU ACT OF 2022; TO DEFINE TERMS; TO PROHIBIT PHYSICALLY INCARCERATED OFFENDERS FROM REQUESTING A NAME CHANGE; TO PROHIBIT MINORS FROM REQUESTING LEGAL RECOGNITION OF A GENDER TRANSITION; TO PROVIDE CERTAIN EXCEPTIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "The Real You Act of 2022."

SECTION 2. For purposes of this act, the following words shall have the meanings ascribed herein unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) "Biological sex" means the biological indication of male and female in the context of reproductive potential or capacity, such as sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, gonads, and nonambiguous internal and external genitalia present at birth, without regard to an individual's psychological, chosen, or subjective experience of gender.

(b) "Change of name petition" means a petition to change the legal name of an individual.

(d) "Gender transition petition" means a petition to legally recognize an individual's transition from living as a gender that corresponds to his or her biological sex to identifying with and living as a gender different from his or her biological sex. "Gender transition petition" may include a change of an individual's name.

(e) "Offender" means any physically incarcerated person convicted of a crime or offense under the laws and ordinances of the state and its political subdivisions or the laws and regulations of the federal government.

SECTION 3. (1) (a) No offender shall have standing to file a change of name petition with the chancery court;

(b) No chancellor shall grant a change of name petition for an offender; and

(2) A chancellor may change the name of an offender if:

(a) A district attorney files a change of name petition on behalf of an offender;

(b) A sheriff of a county in which a person is incarcerated files a change of name petition on behalf of an offender;

(c) The commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, or his or her designee, files a change of name petition on behalf of an offender; or

(d) A Mississippi Department of Corrections Chaplain files a change of name petition on behalf of an offender.

SECTION 4. No minor, or the parent or guardian of a minor, nor their representative or designee, shall have standing to file a gender transition petition unless:

(a) A licensed physician in good standing with the Medical Board of a Licensure shall offer a letter of support for the gender transition petition;

(b) A licensed psychiatrist in good standing with the Medical Board of Licensure shall offer a letter of support for the gender transition petition; and

(c) A chancery clerk, after an in-person interview with the minor, shall offer a letter of support for the gender transition petition.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022.