Posted on 07/25/2004 10:27:08 AM PDT by The Last Rebel Soldier
Published Saturday, July 24, 2004 Court Rules Out Same-Sex Divorce Change in gender is not recognized in Fla. marriage law.
By VICKIE CHACHERE The Associated Press
TAMPA -- Transgender people cannot marry under Florida law, a Florida appeals court ruled Friday in setting aside a high-profile divorce ruling between a man -who once was a woman -- and his wife.
The 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland said people who undergo sex changes are not recognized by their new gender under Florida's marriage laws, which ban same-sex marriages.
The ruling affects an untold number of Florida marriages; people are not required to prove gender when seeking a marriage license.
The ruling came in the case of Michael Kantaras, a Pasco County resident who underwent a sex change operation in 1987 to become a man and then married his wife, Linda, two years later.
His lawyer, Karen Doering, called the court's Friday decision "ridiculous."
Michael Kantaras divorced his first wife in 2002 and was awarded custody of two children -- one child who was his ex-wife's from a prior relationship and the other a daughter she bore in 1992 following artificial insemination.
The appeals court said there was no legal marriage for the Pinellas Circuit Court to dissolve and sent the custody aspect of the case back to Circuit Court for further proceedings.
"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."
Florida's Legislature needs to take up the issue of deciding specifically if transgender people can marry in Florida, the court said.
Until lawmakers recognize sexreassignment procedures in state marriage law, the court said, a person's biological sex at birth is what is to be considered when determining if a marriage is valid.
Doering now wants the case considered by the Florida Supreme Court.
"Michael Kantaras is a man," Doering said. "Michael Kantaras has been a man since 1987 when he completed treatment. This court has just turned common sense on its head."
Kantaras, 45, has since remarried -- a union he is being told is not valid, Doering said.
Lawyers for Linda Kantaras applauded the ruling.
"The law cannot permit a person to change their sex like one changes clothes," said Orlando lawyer Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, a conservative law group. "This case is a tremendous victory for traditional marriage and common sense."
Good enough. A castrated man is not a woman.
Would someone please explain how a woman can become a "man"? Where does the "equipment" come from?
Huh? Your response in addition to being rude is a complete non-sequitur.
"huh" is right. i have no idea what that is doing there.
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