trans law 101

Transamerica (2005) – a Golden Globe Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated independent comedy-drama - is one of the first mainstream movies to look at the practical problems faced by a pre-operative transgender woman.














While we now have books and court decisions on "transgender rights," maybe we need a bit of guidance on terms and issues. Here is an introduction on Trans Law 101 by Prof Douglas Sanders.
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“Transgender” started to be used in the 1990s as an ‘umbrella’ term covering transvestites, transsexuals and others whose behaviour fell outside the Ken and Barbie standard-brand images of males and females. It does not include all gays and lesbians. And it does not include intersexuals.

[PIC]The term “transsexual” refers to individuals who identify as members of the “opposite” sex. They go further than simply choosing clothing and hairstyles that give them an androgynous appearance, or a “butch” or “fem” look. They may cross-dress much or all of the time. They may go further and seek some bodily change by hormones or surgery. And they may seek sex reassignment surgery (SRS).

Sex reassignment surgery started to become generally available in the West in the 1960s. Since that time it has become available in most parts of the world. It is prohibited in Malaysia for Muslims, but allowed in Iran. I have not seen a list of countries which ban the procedure.

The Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, formed in 1979, issued a set of “standards” that are relied on by most doctors internationally.

An individual seeking SRS must be assessed by psychologists or psychiatrists as having “gender identity disorder” (the phrase used by the American Psychiatric Association, DCM-IV) or as being a “transsexual” (the term used by the World Health Organization, ICD-10).

The person will then be prescribed hormones and after living in the desired sex for a period, perhaps two years, will be eligible for SRS. This pattern was illustrated in the US movie TransAmerica.

The Harry Benjamin Association has been renamed the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, and the “standards” are to be reconsidered.

Personal documents

The first issue that went to court concerned personal documents. Transsexuals faced problems every time they had to use personal identity documents, whether opening a bank account, showing a driver’s license, interviewing for a job or international travel. Nong Toom, Thailand’s most famous transsexual (of Beautiful Boxer fame), recalled having problems at virtually all immigration check points when she traveled.

When the issue first went to the European Court of Human Rights, the judges were unfamiliar with transsexual issues and not yet really sympathetic to sexual orientation claims. They generally rejected the claims. The Court reversed itself in 2002 in Goodwin v United Kingdom. The judges held that Goodwin, a post-operative male-to-female (MTF) transsexual, was entitled to have her identity documents changed, including driver’s license, birth certificate and passport.

In Grant v United Kingdom in 2006 the Court ruled that the post-operative sex had to be respected. Grant was entitled to a government pension at the age of 60, the age of eligibility for women. She did not have to wait until she was 65, the age for men.

The right of post-operative transsexuals to have their documents changed is now recognised throughout Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. In Asia it is recognised in Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. Some individuals have been able to get corrected documents in China as well, but patterns there may not be nationally consistent. The Supreme Court in the Philippines in 2007 rejected the right of an MTF to have personal documents changed. . . .

Lambda Legal Challenges Denial of Rights of Feminine Gay Male Student to Wear Dress to Prom

There are ways to write policies that both create rules for student behavior and also respect their rights — but this isn't one of them.

(Gary, IN, December, 12, 2007) — In court papers filed today in the Northern District Court of Indiana, Lambda Legal says that West Side High School violated Kevin "K.K." Logan's First Amendment rights when it barred him from his prom for wearing a dress.

K.K. Logan attended West Side High during his junior and senior year and expressed a deeply rooted femininity in his appearance and demeanor. Both classmates and teachers at the school supported him in his daily attendance dressed in clothes typically associated with girls his age.

However, on May 19, 2006, Principal Diane Rouse stretched her arms across the door of the Senior Prom, blocking Logan's entrance. His classmates and friends rallied to his defense to no avail — even though a female student was allowed entrance dressed in a tuxedo. . . .

A Revitalized Resource

By Emily Leach, Dec 12, 2007


TRANS: THRIVE opens under A&PI Wellness Center

SAN FRANCISCO — Take a step into TRANS: THRIVE’s drop-in center on the second floor of 815 Hyde Street, and it feels immediately like a home away from home, with couches, books, a shower and friendly people around every corner.

TRANS: THRIVE — which stands for Transgender Resources and Neighborhood Space (TRANS) and Transgender Health & Resource Initiative for Vital Empowerment (THRIVE) — aims to eliminate health disparities affecting transgender communities of color by providing support groups, case management, harm reduction training, life skills education, shower facilities, as well as referrals and linkages to substance use treatment programs.

TRANS: THRIVE fills the need left when UCSF TRANS closed its doors in June 2007. After that center’s closing, a year before its grant with the government Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration ended, a public outcry from the transgender community prompted the San Francisco Department of Public Health to step in and ask for the remaining funds for the year. TRANS: THRIVE is a collaborative effort between the department, Community Behavioral Health Services and the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center.

Transgender people often experience discrimination and health disparities markedly different from others in the LGBT community. “Trans people are often more visibly queer at a younger age. A gay kid may not be recognized and harassed at home or school, but a trans kid will,” said Luke Woodward, a program coordinator with TRANS: THRIVE. “So it starts often in youth that trans people are harassed and kicked out of their family, and the way that people survive is through sex work.”

Often, male-to-female transgender people, or “M2Fs,” face the harshest experiences. Woodward has met many trans women, M2Fs, who began sex work at the age of 14 or 15. A lot of trans women do sex work for survival, and often along with sex work is violence, trauma and drugs. Homelessness, viruses and/or incarceration often follow drug usage. . . .

Gender identity, gender change: Stratham school child case brings issue to forefront

BY CHARLES McMAHON

December 12, 2007

STRATHAM — Whether a girl is called a tomboy, or a boy has been told he throws a football like a girl, everyone in some way or another is affected by the issue of gender identity.

Most recently, after a letter was sent out to the parents of a Stratham Memorial Elementary School classroom regarding a student's choice to be recognized as transgendered, the frequency of the situation has surfaced as being more common than generally thought.

Unlike transsexuals, people who identify themselves as transgendered can be physiologically male or female, but feel as though they're trapped in a body of the wrong sex.

Tawnee Walling, executive director of Seacoast Outright, who has been in contact with the family of the 9-year-old student, confirmed on Tuesday that the school department sent a letter to the parents of students in one particular classroom, and that the letter addressed the student's decision to change his name in order to be recognized as a female.

According to Walling, children are able to differentiate their gender identity by the age of 3, and she herself has worked on 20 different cases this year alone involving transgendered youth in the Seacoast area.

"This isn't something to take lightly," said Walling. "It's a serious decision that has to be made related to the health and well being of the youth." . . .

No 'dress' Barred!

12 Dec 2007,MANJARI SABHARWAL,TNN

Ritesh Deshmukh (TOI Photo) More pics

Pakistan's famous TV host Begum Nawazish Ali may still be making heads turn because of cross dressing but back home, our actors have made no lesser impact.

And never mind even if it was only for a small act in a movie, these actors have held their own... and quite well too. Then be it Kamal Hassan in Chachi 420, Govinda in Aunty No.1, Aamir Khan in Baazi, or most recently Ritiesh Deshmukh in Apna Sapna Money Money. So while cross-dressing remained a necessity for actors during the initial days of cinema, it’s quite a hit concept today.

And with the trend of cross-dressing fast being picked up by filmmakers to add a comic element in the film or to just further their storyline, KT takes a look how Bollywood, make-up and fashion industry have crossed all age and sex bars to be where it is today.

Drawing a comparison between intricacies involved in cross over dressing of yesteryears and today, ace actor Raza Murad who acted in Aunty No.1 and Baazi , says, “Bollywood has come a long way. Earlier, most of the cross over dressing roles were that of eunuchs which are easier to perform as compared to dressing and performing like the opposite sex. Secondly, now with a lot of technical advancement actors or actresses work over their voice modulation and dub their original voice according to that of the opposite sex contrary to past. In fact, in Rishikesh Mukherjee’s Biwi Aur Makan Biswajeet acted like a girl but the voice was dubbed by some lady. So these minute details can be taken care of today. Besides, earlier directors and actors seemed to go overborad while performing such roles. But today the the actors are more composed and seem to be doing a better job of the role they have taken on as a person of opposite sex.” . . .

A Transgender TV Debut

Host of Southern India's 'Yours, Rose' Seeks to Challenge Stereotypes, Social Taboos

By Rama Lakshmi

Washington Post Foreign Service
December 9, 2007

CHENNAI, India -- In a congested neighborhood full of trash heaps, cows and auto-rickshaws lives a budding star named Rose.

Her photographs are splashed across newspaper pages and magazine centerfolds. She speaks at upscale women's clubs and poses for fashion shoots in her diva-like designer chiffon sari. She gets free makeovers at the mall from admiring cosmetics saleswomen. . . .

Q&A: Righting Past Wrongs - Defending the Right to Sexual Diversity in Cuba

Interview with Mariela Castro

HAVANA, Dec 13 (IPS) - Cuban sexologist Mariela Castro shocked the world, and a good number of people in Cuba, this year when she announced a proposed legal reform in this socialist Caribbean island nation which would include the full recognition of the rights of gays, lesbians, transsexuals, transvestites and transgender persons.

The director of the National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX), Castro has followed a strategy of awareness-raising on sexual diversity in Cuba since 2004, and is one of the few people in Latin America and the Caribbean to carry out a campaign of such magnitude on this issue from a government institution.

The CENESEX proposals include non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, recognition of de facto unions between same-sex couples, the right of same-sex couples to adopt children, and the responsibilities of families and society towards transsexuals, transvestites and transgender persons.

In an interview with IPS correspondent Dalia Acosta, the niece of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and daughter of acting President Raúl Castro said that although amending current laws would not imply an automatic change in social attitudes, it would lay the foundations for such a change and prompt the country’s institutions to move towards guaranteeing the rights of sexual minorities.

IPS: What stage is your proposal at?

MARIELA CASTRO: We have three draft proposals. The first is a Ministry of Public Health resolution to implement integral health care for transsexual persons, including the creation of a clinic to provide care, from diagnosis and hormonal treatment to sex-change operations and post-operative follow-up. . . .

Varla Jean Merman, "The Bearded Lady"

Sometimes You Can't Go Home Again

DECEMBER 12, 2007

Homelessness among homosexual and transgendered teens is a problem under the radar for most

BY HOLLY WALL

Sometimes going home isn't an option.

"You're going to burn in hell."

More likely than not, someone who is openly gay and living in Tulsa has heard these words, if not spoken directly to him or her, then at least as a generalization used by a condemning observer to describe his or her peers.

In the very worst cases, a young person has heard these words spoken directly to him from the mouth of a parent.

Michael heard these words twice in his life between the ages of 12 and 18, once spoken by his mother and once by his father. At 12 years old, he knew he was very different from his peers, but he couldn't find the words to describe the difference he was feeling. While the other boys his age were attracted to girls, he found himself attracted to other boys.

In an effort to put a name to what he was feeling, Michael went online and searched "homosexuality." When his mother caught him unexpectedly, they were both equally shocked, and it was then that his mother blurted out those painful words.

Although society has made great strides in the last 20 to 30 years in being more open and understanding to those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning, there is still a stigma associated with LGBT issues that makes it difficult for those people to be open and honest about their sexual orientation. For youth and teens coming to grips with their sexuality, especially those raised in devoutly religious homes, the trauma of coming out can be magnified by their parents' rejection of them based on their sexuality. Oftentimes youth coming out in hostile environments will be disowned by their parents, kicked out of their houses, abused or neglected.

Though Michael was one of the "lucky" ones--his parents didn't kick him out of their home and they were never physically abusive, but, thinking their son could very possibly be gay, they never treated him with the same love and understanding that they did before his sexuality became an issue--many children in Tulsa are forced onto the streets after coming out to their parents. . . .

German judge faces a 'tough call' he-or-she sex-change decision

12 December 2007

DPA


Cologne, Germany - A German judge, who must decide on a damages claim by a German person who was surgically converted to a man, said Wednesday it would be a tough call to decide. The court was told the claimant, who looks male, was intersexual or "hermaphrodite," a person born with a mixture of male and female physical features who is neither strictly a he nor a she.

Asked to choose whether to be called him or her in court, the claimant said she felt "mainly female." The judge said the evidence was that her chromosomes were definitely female.

The claimant, 48, who was raised by mistake as a boy, is suing the doctor who cut out her ovaries and womb when she was 18. The retired doctor did not appear in court in Cologne, but was represented by a lawyer.

Presiding judge Dietmar Reiprich said it would be "particularly difficult" to accept her claim because many of the records from 30 years ago had vanished. A verdict would be handed down on February 6. Both sides rejected an agreed settlement.

The rare medical condition is distinguished from trans-sexualism, where a person's physical sex is clear but they behave as the opposite sex and sometimes request cosmetic and other sex-change surgery. . . .

some notes on Living

The One, The Only, Chloe Elise!

December 13, 2007

Chloe Elise


So, as the readers here have guessed, I am the young transexual woman on YouTube posting informative and witty VLOGS (Video Logs) to educate the masses. Why am I doing such a thing? Why am I exploiting myself so? The answers are simple in their own complexity.

I have been publicly "out" as a MtF (Male to Female) TS (Transexual) for about a year now, and it pains me to no end to glance in all directions to see people staring at me. Are they trying to size me up? Are they trying to figure out if I am man or woman? Didn't their mothers tell them it's rude to stare at people? Most mothers do teach such valuable lessons. It's all a part of displaying good manners, and civil respect to other people. The problem lies deeper however.

We (transfolk) bring out a certain kind of fear in people. The words "male", "female", "man", "woman", "he", and "she", are so embedded into Western culture that they have become concrete establishments. Suddenly, when society sees a transgender individual, who is not afraid to be the person they are, that very solid bedrock part of their own identity is challenged. They begin to think, "Hey... what if I am trans as well?". This is not only a shocking revelation, but a very difficult thing to admit. Even those who are cisgender (not transgender) began to think twice about just how firm of a foundation gender really is. Well, I'm one to tell you the line between male and female is less than paper thin.

The problem goes even deeper than that.

Those who openly identify as transgender are subjected to scorn, disbelief, ridicule, harassment, discrimination, and even homicide. Transgender people are misunderstood more than anyone else on the planet. Misunderstanding breeds insecurity. Insecurity breeds fear. Fear breeds hate. Hate breeds anger. Anger is a path to the Dark Side of the Force. Seriously, though... that's the cycle that people go through when they don't understand what is different. As Professor Milton Diamond once pointed out: Biology loves diversity; society HATES it. The world we live in (contrary to popular belief) is not black/white, male/female, straight/gay. We live in a world where there are a multitude of ethnic backgrounds, a spectrum between male and female (which includes cisgender people as well), and a world where there are many different facets to our own sexual orientation.

It used to be impossible for black people to make people understand that they are people, just like everyone else. Now we have Black History Month, BET, and quite a few cultural icons such as Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Some of us still misunderstand why black people feel as if they were mistreated as human beings, so, we still have racism. It's not quite as bad as it used to be because strong, courageous leaders in the black community took a stand. They took a stand for a dream they collectively had: To be respected, and treated like the human beings that they are. Equal on all levels.

Women were subjected to the same treatment. They were treated as the "weaker sex". They weren't allowed to work in the same fields men were accustomed to. The scale tilted heavily on the male side. Women's Lib fixed the majority of the problems, but it didn't fix everything. Male chauvinists still exist much to our dismay. Yet, feminism took hold, and (please don't hate me for this!) gradually turned into, in my honest opinion, female chauvinism. Women do however have a lot more respect, but they are still harassed and discriminated against by these horrible male pigs. No offense to men or women (these are merely my opinions and I don't discriminate anyone based on sex or gender!). What was womens' primary objective goal through Women's Lib? To be respected, and treated like the human beings that they are. Equal on all levels.

Then, of course, we have gay marriage. Why is this even an ISSUE?!?! Do you? I do. Do you? I do. I now consider you man and man/woman and woman. You may kiss your life partner. Why is this so hard? Two people, who obviously love one another, want to tie the knot and seal their lives together in unity... and people are against it. Here's what I have to say about it:

You STRAIGHT people make me sick! BREEDERS DISGUST ME! You don't deserve to get married! Why should you have the same rights as homosexuals? Go make babies somewhere else, you HETEROS! I want no part in your sinful lives, so take your desire to get hitched and go somewhere I don't have to be around you, you SICKOS! . . .

Transgender student fights for rights; Born a girl, NECC student wants to use men's locker room

Ethan Santiago, a transgender student at Northern Essex Community College, is fighting school officials' refusal to assign him a locker in the men's locker room.

Santiago, 20, was born Elizabeth Santiago, but said he lives and identifies as a man.

But his college ID | the one he had to show when he made the locker request | says differently. It lists his legal name and gender: Elizabeth. Female.
December 12, 2007

Staff


Nita Lamborghini, an assistant dean, consulted the school's lawyer before making a decision.

The lawyer recommended that the school deny Santiago's request.

"Our legal counsel indicated that an individual's anatomy determines which space they should use," said Lamborghini.

Santiago is still anatomically female. He has not had surgery to change his gender, but is in psychotherapy and taking hormone therapy while considering that option.

Lamborghini said the school's decision was also based on fear that he would not be safe in the men's locker room. Santiago said Lamborghini told him she would feel responsible should he be harmed. . . .

Parents

December 8, 2007

Miss Use


I just emailed a letter coming out to my parents.

I wonder if this feels similar to what it would be like to hit the button that starts WWIII. Nothing to do but to sit back and wait for the return fire. . . .

Gender identity, gender change: Stratham school child case brings issue to forefront

by Charles McMahon

December 12, 2007

STRATHAM — Whether a girl is called a tomboy, or a boy has been told he throws a football like a girl, everyone in some way or another is affected by the issue of gender identity.

Most recently, after a letter was sent out to the parents of a Stratham Memorial Elementary School classroom regarding a student's choice to be recognized as transgendered, the frequency of the situation has surfaced as being more common than generally thought.

Unlike transsexuals, people who identify themselves as transgendered can be physiologically male or female, but feel as though they're trapped in a body of the wrong sex.

Tawnee Walling, executive director of Seacoast Outright, who has been in contact with the family of the 9-year-old student, confirmed on Tuesday that the school department sent a letter to the parents of students in one particular classroom, and that the letter addressed the student's decision to change his name in order to be recognized as a female.

According to Walling, children are able to differentiate their gender identity by the age of 3, and she herself has worked on 20 different cases this year alone involving transgendered youth in the Seacoast area.

"This isn't something to take lightly," said Walling. "It's a serious decision that has to be made related to the health and well being of the youth."

She also said that the student's parents, who do not wish to come forward at this time, have been very supportive of their daughter's choice and have done a considerable amount of research.

They also say they understand the risks entailed in the process, which is not a sex change, but a reassignment of the gender the person presents to the world.

"It's more about survival and not about gender identity," said Walling.

Craig Russell, My First Inspiration

How I Made a Gender Transition on the Job

How I Made a Gender Transition on the Job

By Ina Fried

Winter 2007

Deciding to transition at work was one of the toughest decisions of my life.

I had known I was transgender for more than a decade, but I was unsure whether I would be able to bring together my work life with who I knew myself to be. After three years of working as Ian, a male, at CNET News.com, would my co-workers and sources be able to accept me as Ina, a female? And how would readers and viewers react? Although the bulk of my job is writing print stories for our Web site, a part of it is appearing in broadcast media to talk about technology issues as well as conducting video interviews of top executives.

But while there were lots of reasons to be worried, there were also things urging me to push forward. I was tired of wearing floppy sweatshirts at the grocery store out of fear that I would run into a colleague or source. I also felt that I was in a unique position, having had access to education and financial security that so few in my community possess. Who was I to stay hidden?

For a while, I tried to wait until I was sure that things would work out. But, in the end, that just wasn’t possible. I thought things would be manageable, but there really weren’t any guarantees. I didn’t think I would get fired, but I wasn’t sure if it would hamper my ability to do my job. I worried that my gender would become the story, rather than the story being the ones on which I was trying to report. Eventually, though, I decided it was more important to be who I knew myself to be.

I thought my managers would be understanding, but not necessarily knowledgeable, on what to do. So by the time I approached them I had come up with a plan. First I would send an e-mail to my colleagues in the newsroom. Then, after they (and I) had a week or two to adjust, I would reach out to my contacts and sources, hundreds of them.

I had planned to wait a little longer than I did, maybe work on making my voice a little less deep, or be more sure of how I would present myself at work. When a new opportunity as Microsoft beat reporter came open, I was forced to speed things up. I didn’t feel right accepting a new assignment without telling my co-workers what I was planning. I accepted the new beat, and they accepted my new gender. . . .

My life in fashion: Grayson Perry

December 12, 2007

Nicola Copping


The transvestite ceramic artist Grayson Perry says he loves to dress in frills, lace, leather and rubber – but he also likes a nice headscarf. . .


The artist Grayson Perry, 47, won the Turner Prize in 2003 for his ceramic work. He received his prize dressed as his alter-ego, Claire, wearing a pink dress embroidered with bunny rabbits. In 2005, he received a Royal Television Society award for his Channel 4 documentary Men Wear Frocks, in which he examined transvestism and masculinity. Perry is married and has a teenage daughter.

I get my ideas from sexual fantasies. These are mainly about the clothes that would be most embarrassing for me to wear. I imagined myself winning the Turner prize dressed as a little girl and, hey presto.

I have been dressing up for 34 years. It started when I was 13. It was a secret then; it’s not something you brag about in the playground or to your parents. I started dressing like my mother – well, I used her clothes, I couldn’t do much else. When I was a student I dressed like an off-duty nurse in hippy dresses. When I had more money I was high street, so Marks & Spencer and quite conservative. I wore prosthetic bosoms; I was a 36B, I think. When I was in my twenties I would go to Oxford Street dressed as a woman and no one would notice. I worked out that that was a bit boring. So I got into the fetish scene and wore a lot of corsets and rubber. . . .

Transgender Veterans Survey

1. Introduction

This survey is for Transgender Veterans, Intersex Veterans and Transgender-Identified Active Duty Service Members only, so if you did not serve in the American military or currently serving, then we request that you do not take this survey. The purpose is to get an idea of various problems facing transgender veterans, intersex veterans and military people, whether it is with the VA, finding and keeping work, and life in general. Since our veterans and military people are unique within the transgender/intersex community, they face problems that are also unique to them, as well as the problems all transgender people face. We would like to see if the transgender/intersex veteran and military population have more or less problems that the general transgender and intersex population faces. Based on the answers of this survey, many of us involved in helping veterans will be able to form a positive direction to help resolved some of these problems. . . .

Gay and the Masculine Mystique

Dave Muskera, M.A.

December 10, 2007

E.M. Forster’s novel “Maurice” (written in 1913 but not published until 1971) tells the story of a young lad of good family and upbringing who discovers himself to be homosexual. Raised in the behaviorally rigid social structure of Edwardian England, he later works - as expected - in his families London brokerage firm. But he is greatly distressed by seeing himself as an “unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort”. Early in the story, he seeks treatment for his sexual “malady” - first from the family doctor who tells him his feelings are “rubbish” and then from a hypnotherapist who advises him to exercise and “stroll about with a gun”.

Maurice came to the big screen in 1987. It’s a lush and well done Merchant-Ivory production with Hugh Grant and Ben Kingsley who plays the part of the hypnotherapist. You can find many reviews of the book and the movie on the Internet.

I begin this article with these bits of book and movie trivia because Forster’s line, delivered by Kingsley in the movie, advising his homosexual client to go strolling about with a gun as an antidote for his “gayness” unfortunately still reflects much of today’s thinking about what constitutes homosexuality. Here we are nearly one hundred years later and confusion about the differences between the concepts of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender role performance still abounds. In this same 100 years of scientific advance, we have gone from Kitty Hawk to the Moon and from wind-up toys to Play Stations, but our cultural views on homosexuality have, in some quarters, not progressed much beyond the late 1800s.

In the advice given Maurice, it’s implied that going strolling with gun (a presumed masculine activity) will somehow re-ignite his manliness and rid him of his dastardly homosexual urges. In essence, the view expressed is that male homosexuality is the opposite of manliness. That all gay men are soft or effeminate - utterly devoid of typical masculine characteristics. This view also extends to cultural expectations that gay men are mostly found in certain feminine identified occupations: hair dressers, nurses, home decorators and others of a similar nature. Yes I know, it’s silly and out of date but you might just be surprised at how many folks still think this way. . . .

Intersex American's illegal marriage to NZer

By GayNZ.com News Staff - 11th December 2007

A New Zealand woman who married an intersex American has had her marriage licence quashed and been refused permission to stay in the United States.

The woman, who has not been named, married Stephan Thomas Calewarts – also known as Stephanie Tia Calewarts – in September 2006.

According to court records, Calewarts was born with "ambiguous genitalia" – tissue for both a penis and a vagina – but his birth certificate identified him as male.

Stephanie Calewarts – whose name was legally changed in 2000 – asked a Brown County, Wisconsin circuit judge in October 2006 to change his birth certificate back to a male gender.

When the judge refused, the county revoked the couple's marriage licence because his birth certificate listed him as female and same-sex marriages are illegal in Wisconsin. . . .