(Tampa, Florida) A female-to-male transsexual is still legally female, making his marriage to a woman invalid in Florida, a state appeals court ruled Friday.
The decision affects an untold number of marriages, since people are not required to prove gender when seeking a marriage license in Florida. Florida law bans same-sex marriage.
The ruling came in the case of Michael Kantaras, a female-to-male transsexual who divorced his wife in 2002 and is engaged in a bitter custody battle with her.
Lawyers for Kantaras' former wife, Linda, had argued that Kantaras was not legally a man when they married in 1989, so the marriage was invalid.
The 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland agreed, overturning 2003 ruling that Michael Kantaras is, in fact, male.
"The controlling issue in this case is whether ... the Florida statutes governing marriage authorize a postoperative transsexual to marry in the reassigned sex," the court wrote. "We conclude they do not."
The court sent the custody aspect of the case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
Michael Kantaras, 45, was granted custody of the couple's children in 2003. The children are his former wife's son, whom he adopted, and a daughter Linda Kantaras conceived during their marriage with donated sperm.
Michael Kantaras' attorney called the court's decision ridiculous and said the case should move to the Florida Supreme Court.
"Michael Kantaras has been a man since 1987 when he completed treatment," Karen Doering said. "This court has just turned common sense on its head."
Dorning said she and her client are relieved that the court did not separate him from his children.
“Protecting the children has always been Michael’s foremost concern," said Doering, staff attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
" We are confident that on remand, the trial court will find that Michael continues to be a legal parent, based on well-settled Florida law that even if a marriage is found to be void, that finding does not affect the legitimacy or parentage of the children.“
“Although we are disappointed in the court’s ruling regarding the marriage, we believe that the Florida Supreme Court will correct that part of the holding on appeal,” Shannon Minter, legal director for NCLR. “It is cruel and senseless for Florida to permit a transsexual person such as Michael to go through sex-reassignment and then refuse to recognize his male gender.”
Attorneys for Linda Kantaras applauded the ruling.
"The law cannot permit a person to change their sex like one changes clothes," said attorney Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, a conservative law group.
http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/07/072304flaTG.htm
Well that sucks
Regards,
Lee
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