Tenn. nixes marriage of transgender woman, man

[WillParkinson]

Source: The Associated Press

Tenn. nixes marriage of transgender woman, man

(Clarksville, Tenn.) Tennessee authorities have invalidated the 18-month marriage of a transgender woman and a man, saying the state considers them both men.

Jo T. Rittenberry, 46, was born a man and claims to have had sex reassignment surgery in Canada. The Clarksville Leaf Chronicle reported that she had officials legally change the gender on her Kentucky birth certificate and Tennessee driver’s license.

Rittenberry married Jeffery Scott Phillips, 36, in November 2007.

Kelly Farmer, director of communications at the Davidson County Clerk’s Office, said Tennessee authorities will not honor the marriage because Rittenberry was not born a woman.

Tennessee does not permit same-sex marriage and does not recognize gender change even after sex reassignment surgery.

http://www.365gay.com/news/tenn-nixes-marriage-of-transgender-woman-man/

Read more: http://www.365gay.com/news/tenn-nixes-marriage-of-transgender-woman-man/

[Renew Deal]

1. Are there states that "recognize gender change even after sex reassignment surgery?"

[cali]

5. yes. Vermont does.

as far as marriage goes, it doesn't really make a difference- or won't after Sept. 1, when marriage equality goes into effect.

[JonLP24]

8. Here is what I found thru Wiki

States make their own laws about birth certificates and marriage, and state courts have varied in their application of such laws to transgenders. Several courts have come to the conclusion that sex reassignments are not recognized for the purpose of marriage, including courts in Ohio, Texas and New York.<1> Other courts (including courts in Kansas and New Jersey) have recognized the reassignments. Most (almost all) U.S. states permit the name and sex to be changed on a birth certificate, either through amending the existing birth certificate or by issuing a new one. Only Idaho, Ohio and Tennessee refuse to permit a change of sex. Like other states, California will amend birth certificates only for California natives currently living in California. However, unlike other states, postoperative residents of California born outside California may obtain a court-ordered change of name and gender.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_aspects_of_transsexualism_in_the_United_States

[Dogtown]

2. How medieval.

Home of the Scopes trial...


:cry:

[JonLP24]

3. This one required me to think

However this man or woman issue legally speaking. I wonder why they consider her a man? Sex reasignment surgery usually implies genital reconstruction. The major difference between a man and a woman is the genitals. What is a man or a woman? If there is no difference despite of the body features then why not have that state legalize same-sex marriage. My head hurts. I can't figure out why they won't accept her as a woman even though she has the necessary body parts. This is just going to turn into babbling so I'll stop. My opinion the both laws suck and they should let the two marry.

[wellst0nev0ter]

6. Man = Y Chromosome, Woman = XX Chromosome

For the cases where there are multiple X chromosomes, then we'll just have to flip a coin :sarcasm:

[JonLP24]

7. Ok. You know this better then I do

Do the chromosones change when a man changes to a woman or vice versa? What I'm asking when it boils all the way down to it what is a man or a woman? My simple answer and solution is he or she has the neccessary body parts then he or she is a man or woman.

[hlthe2b]

9. No, one's chromosomes do not change (XY to XX)

ever-- including with reassignment surgery.

[JonLP24]

11. That answers my question I guess. Thank you.

However my opinion I feel the state as well as all states should recognize gender identity and same sex marriage to avoid such a complication.

[backscatter712]

12. Chromosomes are not the last word in gender.

Yes it has a lot to do with the gender thing, but not all. There are men out there with two X chromosomes, and women with a Y chromosome.

Then you toss in the hormonal chemistry and things get really complicated.

I vaguely remember hearing that with transgendered people, it is a hormonal issue that happens before birth - hormones caused the brain to develop one way, then the chemistry got messed up and caused the genitalia to develop the other way, so it almost literally is the situation of a woman being born in a man's body, or vice-versa.

And yes, Tennessee, AGAIN, has to be dragged out of the fucking dark ages on this issue.

[JonLP24]

13. That is really interesting

Thank you. I learned alot today.

[LeftHander]

14. The don't accept becasue they are narrow bible thumper haters....nt

[Betty]

4. the by that logic, they'd have to recognize

the marriage of two women as legal if one of them "used to be" a man.

[bigpenguin]

10. fantastic point.

Someone should point that out to them.

[Hepburn]

17. Excellent point....

...but I am betting they would deny the right to marry because one of the them is now a woman.

Geeeeeez, this is a state where one can marry a cousin and that is OK...!

[Zenlitened]

15. A timely article in the NYT: "Is My Marriage Gay?"

Is My Marriage Gay?

By JENNIFER FINNEY BOYLAN
Published: May 11, 2009

...

For our part, Deirdre and I remain legally married, even though we’re both legally female. If we had divorced last month, before Governor Baldacci’s signature, I would have been allowed on the following day to marry a man only. There are states, however, that do not recognize sex changes. If I were to attempt to remarry in Ohio, for instance, I would be allowed to wed a woman only.

Gender involves a lot of gray area. And efforts to legislate a binary truth upon the wide spectrum of gender have proven only how elusive sexual identity can be. The case of J’noel Gardiner, in Kansas, provides a telling example. Ms. Gardiner, a postoperative transsexual woman, married her husband, Marshall Gardiner, in 1998. When he died in 1999, she was denied her half of his $2.5 million estate by the Kansas Supreme Court on the ground that her marriage was invalid. Thus in Kansas, any transgendered person who is anatomically female is now allowed to marry only another woman.

Similar rulings have left couples in similar situations in Florida, Ohio and Texas. A 1999 ruling in San Antonio, in Littleton v. Prange, determined that marriage could be only between people with different chromosomes. The result, of course, was that lesbian couples in that jurisdiction were then allowed to wed as long as one member of the couple had a Y chromosome, which is the case with both transgendered male-to-females and people born with conditions like androgen insensitivity syndrome. This ruling made Texas, paradoxically, one of the first states in which gay marriage was legal.

A lawyer for the transgendered plaintiff in the Littleton case noted the absurdity of the country’s gender laws as they pertain to marriage: “Taking this situation to its logical conclusion, Mrs. Littleton, while in San Antonio, Tex., is a male and has a void marriage; as she travels to Houston, Tex., and enters federal property, she is female and a widow; upon traveling to Kentucky she is female and a widow; but, upon entering Ohio, she is once again male and prohibited from marriage; entering Connecticut, she is again female and may marry; if her travel takes her north to Vermont, she is male and may marry a female; if instead she travels south to New Jersey, she may marry a male.”

Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/opinion/12boylan.html?em

[Hepburn]

16. Oh, what fucking bullshit....

...they should be allowed to marry EVEN if he had never had the sexual reassignment surgery.

Geeeeeeeez, louise.....the govt NEEDS to get out the the bedrooms of its citizens and into the boardrooms of the lying, cheating, stealing corporations.

Talk about fucked up priorities! :eyes:

[saigon68]

18. into the boardrooms of the lying, cheating, stealing corporations.

That's where the Govt give Billions of $$$$$ of TARP money

LOL

[KamaAina]

20. Hell yeah! Just say no to same-industry corporate mergers!

:yourock:

edit: Under my "Prop $8 Billion", only "opposite mergers" will be allowed. :eyes:

[slackmaster]

19. The same thing would happen now in California under Proposition 8

For anyone who was not already aware of that fact.

[sakabatou]

21. *sigh* TN marching proudly backwards...