As we’re seeing more and more, one of the big problems with our country’s inconsistent national policy on same-sex unions is what happens when couples split up. Thomas Beatie, who made headlines in recent years for giving birth to three children despite having transitioned to male, has been told by an Arizona judge that his nine-year marriage is not valid in the state’s eyes, so he and his wife are not eligible for a divorce.
On Friday, Maricopa County Family Court Judge Douglas Gerlach ruled that because Beatie didn’t provide enough evidence of what procedures he’s had done, the state sees his relationship as a same-sex marriage, which are not legally recognized in Arizona.
“The decision here is not based on the conclusion that this case involves a same-sex marriage merely because one of the parties is a transsexual male, but instead, the decision is compelled by the fact that the parties failed to prove that [Mr. Beatie] was a transsexual male when they were issued their marriage license.”
Beatie, who is appealing the ruling, has been public about having had a double mastectomy and taking hormones (which he suspended in order to get pregnant). When Thomas and Nancy were legally married in 2003 in Hawaii, he wasn’t asked to disclose the nature of his reproductive organs. (According to news reports, Beatie had phalloplasty surgery last year and is no longer able to get pregnant.)
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While the couple’s marital status is in limbo, the judge did set custody guidelines for the Beaties’ three children: Thomas is required to pay $240 in monthly child support.
yaoming
A man can’t divorce his wife? I’m not seeing the gay news angle here.
TinoTurner
@yaoming: You’re not a man because you cut your tits off and take pills. That makes you a circus freak.
yaoming
Whoa, harsh.
hotshot70
Beatie was a very manly looking pregnant woman. Obviously at that time, Beatie still had a vagina and ovaries. People need to quit calling this person a pregnant man. It was a gimmick used to get attention.
DarkZephyr
There is some appalling transphobia in these comments. Shameful.
neostud
@TinoTurner: I do agree with the first part of your statement. But, calling another human a “Circus freak” is a tad bit harsh. Don’t you think?
TinoTurner
@neostud: No. This person allowed themselves to go on national tv shows and be interviewed as a pregnant man…..which I believe a pregnant man constitutes a freak, no?
hyhybt
Why am I not surprised to see the phrase “Maricopa County” turn up in such an article?
hyhybt
@TinoTurner: No, of course “cut[ting] your tits off and tak[ing] pills” doesn’t make you a man. It’s the other way around: the surgery and hormones are a way for a man to make his body match his self if they don’t, as they do for most people, line up naturally.