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"Is My Marriage Gay?" - New York Times Op-Ed Article

Tue, 05/12/2009 - 23:55 — Marcella Kocolatos

Hello everyone!

I just read an op-ed piece in the New York Times that is extremely pertinent to our recent conversations about Middlesex. The article is written by a transgendered woman who was technically part of a legal same-sex marriage in Maine even before the state legalized gay marriage last week. However, the legality of her marriage would differ from state to state depending on how each state regards the gender of transgendered individuals. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/opinion/12boylan.html?em

 

- Marcella  

Comments

Wed, 05/13/2009 - 07:23 — Lee Quinby

Thanks for posting this,

Thanks for posting this, Marcella.  These two paragraphs in particular get at the current confusion about what constitutes legal gender:

"I’ve been legally female since 2002, although the definition of what makes someone “legally” male or female is part of what makes this issue so unwieldy. How do we define legal gender? By chromosomes? By genitalia? By spirit? By whether one asks directions when lost?

We accept as a basic truth the idea that everyone has the right to marry somebody. Just as fundamental is the belief that no couple should be divorced against their will. "