Court Rules Post-Op Transgender Male Is Legally Female

>The Florida 2 ^nd District Court of Appeal ruled Michael Kantaras, the female-to-male transsexual, is female, overturning a 2003 ruling that Michael is male.   Thus, since Michael was legally female at the time of his marriage to Linda, the marriage is null and void, according to an Associated Press report.

“The controlling issue in this case is whether … the Florida statutes governing marriage authorize a postoperative transsexual to marry in the reassigned sex,” the court wrote. “We conclude they do not.”

The ruling overturns a previous court’s decision that Michael was male.   In a divorce and custody battle that began in 2002, a lower court ruled in 2003 that Michael was male.   That court also granted Michael custody of the couple’s two children:   his former wife’s son, whom he adopted, and a daughter Linda conceived during their marriage with donated sperm.

The appellate court sent the custody aspect of the case back to a lower court for further proceedings.