'Pregnant man' Thomas Beatie refused divorce by Arizona judge
AP March 30, 201311:53PM
An Arizona judge says the union of Thomas and Nancy Beatie may not legally vaild since the state does not recognise same-sex marriage. Picture: AP Source: AP
AN Arizona man who gave birth to three children after a sex-change operation has hit a snag in his divorce proceedings.
A judge is questioning whether the state's same-sex marriage ban bars him from ending Thomas and Nancy Beatie's union - or even recognising its validity.
Thomas Beatie was born a woman and underwent a sex change - but retained female reproductive organs and later gave birth to three children.
Thomas and Nancy Beatie now want to end their nine-year marriage, but their divorce plans stalled when Maricopa County Family Court Judge Douglas Gerlach said in late June that he was unable to find any legal authority defining a man as someone who can give birth.
"Are we dealing with a same-sex marriage?" Judge Gerlach asked.
He noted Arizona has banned such marriages and refuses to accept those performed in other states. The judge added that no court in Arizona is allowed to declare same-sex unions valid.
Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Centre for Lesbian Rights, said courts have declared marriages involving a transgender person invalid in a handful of cases across the country. But he said those cases had different factual and legal issues than those in the Beatie case.
Mr Minter, an expert in family law involving gay, lesbian and transgender people, said he could recall only one case in which a marriage involving a transgender person who gave birth went through the courts. He said that union was dissolved in California about a decade ago without disputes about whether the marriage was valid.
"What you have is a man and woman who are married, and their relationship is ending," said Mr Minter, who isn't involved in the Beatie case. "And it's no different, fundamentally, from other people in that circumstance."
Jim Campbell, a lawyer for a conservative Christian legal organisation that isn't involved in the Beatie case, said in an email that the failure of the courts to protect traditional marriage had led to chaos and that children were being led into "increasingly bizarre situations".
Thomas Beatie, known as "The Pregnant Man", was born Tracy Lehuanani Lagondino in Oahu, Hawaii. He began testosterone treatment in 1997 and underwent double mastectomy and chest reconstruction surgery in 2002.
Thomas Beatie married his partner, Nancy, in early 2003 and became pregnant because Nancy was unable to have children. Thomas Beatie conceived with donated sperm and gave birth to children who are now four, three and two years old.
Thomas, through one of his attorneys, declined an interview.
The Beatie divorce case turns on the question of whether a judge has jurisdiction to grant a divorce in a marriage involving a transgender person. A January 31 trial is scheduled, and the judge is expected to rule in early February.
If the judge decides he has no jurisdiction, Thomas is expected to appeal, and lawyers on both sides said the temporary agreement on parenting time likely would be made permanent. They might have to go to civil court to divide their property.
"If you took away the transgender part of it, it's a garden-variety divorce case," said David Higgins, Nancy's lawyer.
David Michael Cantor, one of Thomas Beatie's lawyers, said it would be more financially favourable for his client if the marriage weren't recognised by the courts. But Mr Cantor said Thomas wants the divorce as an official recognition that their union was legitimate.
