Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2003

Abstract

This Article discusses the difficulties involving divorce for married transgender women and men in the United States. For a transgender (trans) man or woman, what begins as the dissolution of a relationship may be transformed into a public nightmare in which the individual is forced to defend the authenticity of his or her gender in the face of relentless, brutal, and humiliating questions about the most intimate details of personal anatomy and sexual practices.

The Author suggest that the courts should point to the medical standards of care, which conclude that sex is determined by gender identity: the court then needs only to look to the person's gender identity to determine his or her legal sex. Recognition of gender identity should provide the law with a consistent, relatively simple approach that accords with medically accepted standards yet at the same time permits the flexibility that the standards of care contemplate.

Comments

"This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association."

Recommended Citation

30 Hum. Rts. 11 (Summer 2003)

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