Was There a Same-Sex Wedding in Texas on Valentine’s Day?

February 17th, 2014

CBS 11 News in Dallas reports that on Valentine’s Day, four people, who all consider themselves female, were married. However, one member from each couple had gender reassignment surgery, from male to female. In Texas, notwithstanding gender reassignment surgery, the state recognizes a person based on the gender at birth. Thus, although all four people considered  themselves female, in the eyes of the laws of Texas, there were two unions of a man and a woman. So this would seem to be a perfectly lawful nuptial.

The story of how they found a judge to marry them is interesting.

“On all of my information, it still says male,” said Ashely Boucher. “So, legally I’m still male in the state of Texas. My presentation would suggest otherwise.  But my documentation says that I can marry Genevieve no questions asked.

“If you were born male and became female through being transgendered or having a gender reassignment surgery, they consider you to be biologically male,” said UTA political science professor Thomas Marshall.

The couples struggled to find clerks and judges who would cooperate with the marriages trying as many as 17 courts according to one of the participants, Genevieve Jonte.

“The lady at the clerk said, ‘But you two are women’,” said Jonte.  ”And we said, “Well, here are our documents.  Can you give us a license?’   And they didn’t know what to say.  A lot of closing the blinds.

The Texas Supreme Court is currently considering the constitutionality of Texas’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. These ceremonies, though, would not implicate that decision.