Transgender invisibility in marriage laws.

If she identifies as a woman, she is a woman. But that is obviously too much for the state of Virginia to understand, so they are trying to figure out if they should prosecute a husband and wife for getting married, because it turns out the wife is an MTF. So technically they are violating the same sex marriage. Since a transgender woman’s personhood is not recognized by the state.

A prosecutor says the decision to press charges could turn on whether the pair knowingly misled officials when they applied for a license and later, traveled to a courthouse for a ceremony. If the bride was transgender, and identified as a woman, it is unclear whether the marriage would be considered illegal.
The pair went to Newport News Circuit Court on March 24 to obtain a marriage license — McCain appearing as a woman and saying the name “Justine” before a deputy, said Newport News Circuit Court clerk Rex Davis.
McCain produced a Virginia driver’s license, but a design quirk — the ‘m’ or ‘f’ for male or female appears directly against a darkened state seal — meant nobody noticed McCain’s gender, Davis said.

If she identifies as a woman than she is a woman. Is she “fooling” herself along with the courts? If she “mis-led” them that would assume that she is not actually a woman according to the state and her rights as a transgender person are illegible. The debate around gay marriage doesn’t always factor in the relationship between transgender citizens and the legal apparatus of marriage.
via CNN.

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