December 2, 2003--New York, NY--Sylvia Rivera Law Project Wins Transgender
Woman's Name Change Case.
September 26, 2003--Augusta, GA--Pre-op
trans woman wins name change; Two-year ordeal spiraled `out of control', Augusta judge
says. Southern Voice story here.
April 10, 2003-- A British transgendered woman has lost the battle to have her
22-year marriage declared legal.
April 9,
2003--Chicago, IL-- A Chicago judge Tuesday
ruled a transgender male cannot be granted parental rights because same-sex marriages are
illegal in Illinois and therefore the man was never the boy's legitimate father.
March 14, 2003--Warren,
Ohio--A Cincinnati anti-gay group has asked a court to
allow them to oppose the appeal of a heterosexual couple denied marriage because one is
transsexual. Story here. But that
motion was denied: May 9, 2003--Warren Ohio--The judge who denied a marriage
license to a heterosexual couple because one is transgender will not be heard during their
appeal. Neither will a Cincinnati anti-gay group that inserted themselves into the case.
See Gay People's Chronicle story here.
December 31, 2003--Trumbull County, Ohio--Decision Made in Transsexual
Marriage Case.
July 6, 2003--United Kingdom--Transsexuals
win right to marry; Britain's 5,000 transsexuals who have gone through a full medical sex
change are to be given the legal right to marry and have the gender changed on their birth
certificate. Guardian story here.
July 23, 2004--Florida--Florida Court of Appeal
Invalidates Marriage But Rejects Mother’s Request to Deprive Transgender Father of
Parental Rights. The Florida Court of Appeal issued a decision today in a marriage and
custody case involving Michael Kantaras, a transsexual man who married a woman in
Florida
and had two children with her. When Michael
petitioned for divorce, his wife asked the court to invalidate their marriage and to strip
Michael of any parental rights, based solely on his transgender status. After a three week trial in 2002, which was
televised on Court TV, the trial court held that Michael is legally male, the marriage was
valid, and awarded primary custody to Michael. The
trial court’s decision – which surveyed all of the existing legal and medical
literature on transsexualism, and which ultimately exceeded 800 pages in length --
received national attention.
Release is here. Decision here.
Other documents/stories:
- February 21, 2003--Clearwater
Florida. In an 800+ page decision, a Florida Judge ruled in groundbreaking
case that Michael Kantaras, a transgender man, is legally male and was legally married to
his former wife. Michael Kantaras was also awarded primary custody of the couple's
two children.
- July 24, 2003--Florida--Religious right plans to appeal
Kantaras v. Kantaras. See their story here.
- See the case docket from the National Center for Lesbian Rights here.
- You can read the full text of the Kantaras decision here in PDF format.
Updated in March 2003 with a Table of Contents and a four page supplement by the judge.
- See GLAAD News Pop here.
- For background on the case, visit the Court TV web page.
- Planetout column by TLPI board member Jamison Green: Victory in the Kantaras Case: What Does it Mean?
Littleton v.
Prange (1999) - Texas appellate court negates 7-year marriage of Christie Lee
Littleton because she was born male-bodied. Site also contains documents related to the
litigation.
In the Matter of Robert Wright Helig (2003). Maryland
Appellate court remands case back to lower court, finding the lower court had "erred
in broadly concluding, as a matter of law, that gender was not subject to modification or
adjustment," and instructing the lower court not to dismiss a transsexual women's
request for a new birth certificate out of hand, but to consider medical evidence.
In Re Estate of Marshall C. Gardiner (2002). Kansas
State Supreme Court declared marriage of transsexual woman J'Noel Gardiner
invalid. TLPI NEWS RELEASE. Read
the case here.
Read the reversed decision here. Read a
story about the case in Salon Online Magazine here..
In Re Robert
Henry McIntyre (1998) - Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturns lower court decision
requiring a transsexual women to have surgery before legal name change.
International Cases:
AUSTRALIA: In Re Kevin (2001 and 2003). The Full
Court of the Family Court has rejected a bid by the Federal Attorney-General to rule a
marriage between a transsexual and a woman invalid. This case upholds a 2001 ruling that a
marriage between a transsexual man and a woman was a valid marriage under Australian
law. Read the February 2003 decision denying the appeal here.
UK: Corbett v. Corbett (1970), United
Kingdom. Effectively overruled by the Goodwin and I decisions.
UK: Bellinger v. Bellinger (2003):
Transgender UK Marriage Not Legal: A British transgendered woman has lost the battle to
have her 22-year marriage declared legal.
EUROPE: Goodwin
v UK Government & I
v. UK Government (2002), from the European Court of Human Rights, finds
that the United Kingdom must legally recognize the post-operative sex of transsexual
people.
See also:
Shannon Minter, Transgendered Persons and Marriage: The Importance
of Legal Planning in PDF, Legal Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights. Also
available from NCLR, 870 Market Street, Suite 570, San Francisco, CA 94102, 415-392-6257, nclrights@nclrights.org.(January 2004)
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