Florida, USA
— When Michael Kantaras won a particularly nasty
custody battle, he won more than the right to care for
two children <http://www.courttv.com/trials/kantaras/>.
He won a legal ruling
that he's a man, albeit one born female.
"Chromosomes are
only one factor in the determination of sex,'' wrote
Judge Gerard J. O'Brien in Clearwater, Florida."They
do not overrule gender or self-identity, which is the
true test."
Thus, the 10-year union
of Linda Kantaras to Michael Kantaras, named Margo at
birth and transformed as an adult through surgery and
hormones, didn't violate Florida's ban on same-sex
marriage, the judge ruled.
Because the marriage was
legit, so was his fatherhood. The only remaining
question, the essential one in any custody dispute, was
who would be the better parent.
By almost every measure,
the judge wrote, "Michael is favored.''
Another Woman
The Kantaras decision came in February, a year after
the three-week custody trial ended in Clearwater,
Florida. (Feb. 22, 2002, and March 29, 2002,
columns).
Hefty at 809 pages,
O'Brien's ruling is also huge for its significance in
transgender issues, says Karen Doering, who helped
represent Michael Kantaras.
"This is the first case
in this country that has, in any sort of comprehensive
way, looked at the medical aspects of transsexualism,''
says Doering.
Kantaras's gender became
fodder for public debate after he left his wife for
another woman. Only then did Linda Kantaras complain
about her husband's gender history, though she'd known of
it since before they married.
She knew it when he
adopted the son she conceived during a prior
relationship. She accommodated it when she conceived a
daughter through artificial insemination with sperm from
Michael's brother, listing Michael Kantaras as father on
the birth certificate.
But once spurned, Linda
Kantaras used her husband's gender history to try to
nullify their marriage, gain a custody advantage over him
and, the judge said, poison her children's relationship
with their father.
Ploy That
Backfired
The tactic backfired. For whatever difficulty the
children were having with their dad's gender switching,
O'Brien blamed Linda. She divulged the secret spitefully
in a way the judge found damaging to the
children.
When it comes to
parenting, there are worse things than being a
transsexual. Linda emotionally and physically abused her
son, the judge said. In emotional stability and parenting
skills, Michael was superior, O'Brien found.
Dad even outdid Mom in
"moral fitness.'' She kept the kids away from their
father in violation of court orders, thus setting a bad
example, said O'Brien.
He made Michael the
primary custodial parent and gave Linda liberal
visitation rights to see the kids, now 11 and
14.
O'Brien's conclusions on
transsexuality only apply directly in the Tampa-St.
Petersburg area. Doering says the "depth and breadth'' of
the ruling make it "a case that future courts will look
to in deciding these cases'' elsewhere.
