News (USA)

Appeals court rules transgender man can continue pursuing divorce

Appeals court rules transgender man can continue pursuing divorce

PHOENIX — A transgender man in Arizona who gave birth to three children after beginning his transition from female to male can continue to pursue a divorce, a state appeals court said Wednesday, reversing a judge who refused to end the marriage.

Thomas Beatie
Thomas Beatie AP

A three-judge panel of the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that Thomas Beatie’s marriage to Nancy Beatie in Hawaii in 2003 is considered valid in Arizona and concluded it wasn’t a same-sex union.

Last year, a lower court judge denied the divorce request and ruled that Arizona’s ban on same-sex marriages prevented the marriage from being recognized as valid.

Beatie began to change sex before the marriage but retained female reproductive organs and became pregnant three times with donated sperm when Nancy Beatie was unable to have children. The couple eventually moved to Arizona and sought a divorce a few years later.

Thomas Beatie was born a woman in Hawaii and as an adult underwent a double-mastectomy and chest reconstruction surgeries, and began testosterone hormone therapy and psychological treatment to become a man.

Sixteen months ago, Maricopa County Family Court Judge Douglas Gerlach concluded the marriage appeared to be a same-sex union because it was between a woman and a person who was capable of giving birth.

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The family court judge also found he had no jurisdiction to handle the divorce request because there was insufficient evidence that Beatie was a man when he got married, even though he had his Hawaii driver’s license and birth certificate changed to say he was a man.

The Arizona appeals court ruled that Beatie’s marriage in Hawaii was valid and noted that he didn’t withhold his transgender status from officials in Hawaii.

The panel said it was obligated to let people who get their birth certificates changed to reflect a new gender status the rights connected to their amended status – and doing otherwise would run afoul of equal-protection rights protections.

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