ENDEAVOUR FORUM NEWSLETTER No. 114, APRIL 2004

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In a case in some ways  similar to the   Kevin and Jennifer case in Australia,  in the Pinellas, Florida, County Court, Judge Gerard O'Brien rejected the plea of  Linda Kantaras that because the man she married, Michael Kantaras, was actually born a woman (formerly "Margo"), the marriage was null and void.    

 In a decision (February 2003)  that will likely set precedent in legal issues regarding  transsexuals, Judge Gerard O'Brien ruled that though born a woman, Michael Kantaras is legally a male, and therefore his marriage to ex-wife Linda was legally valid.  The judge granted a divorce and gave transsexual Michael Kantaras custody of  Linda's  two children which he had adopted soon after they were born.  (The children were conceived using donated sperm from Michael's brother). 

This case highlights that any Amendment to the Marriage Act must also clearly define "man" and  "woman".  Activist judges do not expect sex-changing individuals to have surgery or hormone treatment but merely to "think" of themselves as whatever sex they want to be, and to be accepted as belonging to that sex by some other people.   In Britain the “Gender Recognition Bill” will allow transsexuals to register for a new birth certificate in their chosen sex , and to marry in that sex.  

My booklet on the "Deconstruction of Gender" (available for $3 from Endeavour Forum) foreshadowed the "Deconstruction of Marriage".

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NGO in Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC of the UN