In the United States, the ability to marry for a transgender person will vary accoridng to the particular type of transgender person they are, the status of their birth certificate, their state (and in some cases county) laws, and court precedents that are difficult to readily be aware of unless, bluntly, you are an active follower of such things, and even their operative state. The rules really are that complex. Straight cross dressers can marry without much problem anywhere. Transsexuals who are straight have several hurdles, however, and, these days, transgender is used all too often (and erroneously, imo) to describe just them. Transsexuals, however, can often be bisexual or gay (assuming one uses a non specific description). Transsexuals have differnt genders for differnt legal purposes in most stats. In some states, they can have a birth certificate that says male, a driver's license that says fmale, be legally female for employment, and legally male for marriage. In other states, they can have a birth certificate that matches their true gender, but not be legally that gender for marriage purposes. Texas has counties, an some jursidictions forbid marriage altogether. The situation is so complex that between an amendment to the constitution banning same sex amrriage and a court precedent in Kansas, a couple that in any ohter situation would be considered gay can get married -- becuase despite the birth certificate, they are still considered their original gender assignment. Texas has voided marriages and denied surviror's benefits to Transsexual couples (under Bush, no less). Furthermore, because states are loathe to void marriages that were legal prior to a partners transition, there are situations where some states simply have fully legal same sex marraiges despite laws or amendments nullifying them. People can't ask for voiding -- they must file for divorce like anyone else, even if the transition has wrecked the marriage. So transgender marriage rights *are* on hold until we all get marriage rights equally. |
