Saturday, July 26, 2008

A Bit of Good News

A German court has decided that a pre-existing marriage does not have to be dissolved if one of the spouses in said marriage changes their legal sex.

In the UK, that’s exactly what has to happen, & if the couple wants to remain married, they can then have a civil union (just as Jan Morris & her wife have just done).

In the US, of course, it’s more a loophole because marriage is a contract, & contract law is such that as long as the contract is legal at the time it’s written, it continues to be unless otherwise contested.

But as far as I know, this is the first ruling to acknowledge that some transsexuals are already married when they transition, that they choose to remain married after transition, and that their marriage is legally a same-sex marriage after the fact.

It’s good news.

1 comment:

Crissa said...

Yeah, I know several transsexuals in the US who have marriages such as that... Not much in the way of legal precedence, but I know some have.

Now what's confusing is that courts have begun to rule that if a marriage isn't legal now or here, then the court has no right to dissolve the marriage.

Which is beyond bizarre.