Arizona Court Says Pregnant Transgender Man Can Divorce Wife
An Arizona appeals court ruled Wednesday that Thomas Beatie, a transgender man who previously gave birth to three children, has the right to divorce his wife of over 10 years.
A lower family court in Arizona had previously ruled that Beatie could not divorce his wife, Nancy, whom he married in 2003 in Hawaii. The lower court argued that because Beatie could not prove he was a male at the time of his Hawaii wedding, he could not prove that his marriage was a heterosexual one, rather than a same-sex one. Arizona does not recognize same-sex marriages, therefore arguing that Beatie's marriage was void under its state constitution.
On Wednesday, however, the appeals court in Arizona determined that Beatie could divorce his wife because the only fact that mattered was whether the state that solemnized the marriage recognized Beatie as a male at the time of his nuptials.
"As the Beaties' Hawaii marriage was lawfully entered in Hawaii and is not deemed void by Arizona law, the marriage is valid within this state," Judge Kenton D. Jones wrote in the 12-page opinion produced by the three-member panel.
Beatie previously made national headlines when he chose to carry his wife Nancy's three children because she could not conceive. Beatie was born a female, but was undergoing testosterone treatments to become a male when he decided to halt the treatments and conceive three children.
Beattie will now be able to divorce his wife Nancy and has said he plans to marry his new girlfriend, Amber Nicholas.
