Judge accused of insensitive questioning in gender change will remain after training

LOS ANGELES — A superior court judge accused of asking insensitive questions during a gender change petition underwent sensitivity training and will remain in his department, according to the court.

Edward B. Moreton, who handles gender marker petitions at Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, was trained in September following the May hearing in question. He will continue to hear gender petitions, according to the court public information director Mary Hearn.

“Los Angeles Superior Court continuously provides new and enhanced legal education as we learn about the issues our judicial officers face,” Hearn wrote in an email.

Moreton was accused of inappropriately handling the petition of a 14-year-old male who requested his name be changed to Melissa, and his gender switched to female. The judge questioned the teenager’s appearance and motives for the gender change, according to the family.

The teenager’s mother, Gwen Everman, said Moreton made it clear during the hearing that he didn’t want to or have to sign the petition, saying at one point: “Just a piece of paper,” Everman recalled the judge waving the papers.

“It does not make you a woman. … Now you’re just going to have a lot more problems than other people,” she recalled the judge saying.

The petition was ultimately granted, but not before the judge asked if the teenager was sure about going through with the change, according to Everman. Moreton told the family that the teen looked and acted like a boy, despite identifying as a girl, and commented on the teen’s clothes, according to Everman.

“Our feeling was he was biased against transgender people and really overstepped his boundaries and his position. I think one of the main things he was doing was trying to bully us into a name change and not the gender marker change,” Everman said.

There is no court transcript of the hearing and the court has declined to speak about the matter, citing a policy of not commenting on pending complaints or cases.

Moreton also declined to comment. Everman said she took notes during the proceeding.

The hearing prompted Everman to file a complaint with the Commission on Judicial Performance, calling the hearing a “traumatic” incident that resulted in the teenager crying and fainting.

Following the complaint, Los Angeles County Assessor Jeffrey Prang called for Moreton to be taken off hearing transgender petition cases and the head of the Stonewall Democratic Club, which advocates for the LGBTQ community, called for Moreton to resign.

Los Angeles County Presiding Judge Daniel Buckley responded this week in a letter to Prang.

The court has an interest in “ensuring that every court user’s interaction with the court instills confidence in the judicial system,” Buckley wrote.

Retired San Diego County Superior Court Judge Lisa Schall, whose calendar included name and gender changes, said a person must include an affidavit from their treating physician to get a court to change the gender designation on their birth certificate.

Everman said the affidavit contained a doctor’s note stating her child underwent the transition, but Moreton continued to question the validity of the papers.

“He told us that the letter wasn’t satisfactory because it only contained ‘the magic words’ which in fact was the legally accepted terminology and which I understood was required,” according to her complaint to the commission.

A new law next year will eliminate the requirement to appear in court for a gender change in order to conform to gender identity as long as the person is not found to be in debt or running from the law.