Appeals court says Floridians who have sex changes can't marry

By VICKIE CHACHERE
Associated Press Writer

TAMPA, Fla. - Transgender people cannot marry under Florida law, a Florida appeals court ruled Friday in setting aside a high-profile divorce ruling between a man - who once was a woman - and his wife.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland said people who undergo sex changes aren't recognized by their new gender under Florida's marriage laws, which ban same-sex marriages. The ruling affects an untold number of Florida marriages; people are not required to prove gender when seeking a marriage license.

The ruling came in the case of Michael Kantaras, a Pasco County resident who underwent a sex change operation in 1987 and then married his wife, Linda, two years later. His attorney, Karen Doering, called the court's Friday decision "ridiculous."

Michael Kantaras divorced his first wife in 2002 and was awarded custody of two children - one child which was his ex-wife's from a prior relationship, the other a daughter she bore in 1992 following artificial insemination.

The appeals court said there was no legal marriage for the Pinellas Circuit Court to dissolve, and remanded the custody aspect of the case for further proceedings.

"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."

Florida's Legislature needs to take up the issue of deciding specifically if transgender people can marry in Florida, the court said. Until lawmakers recognize sex-reassignment procedures in state marriage law, the court said, a person's biological sex at birth is what's to be considered when determining if a marriage is valid.

Doering now wants the case considered by the Florida Supreme Court.

"Michael Kanteras is a man," Doering said. "Michael Kanteras has been a man since 1987 when he completed treatment. This court has just turned common sense on its head."

Kantaras, 45, has since remarried - a union he's being told is not valid, Doering said.

Attorneys for Linda Kantaras applauded the ruling.

"The law cannot permit a person to change their sex like one changes clothes," said Orlando attorney Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, a conservative law group. "This case is a tremendous victory for traditional marriage and common sense... A few hormones and plastic surgery do not change a person's sex."