Sex and Marriage in Texas

Brittany, of the student blog Blue Blogger Brittany has written a commentary piece about Governor Perry's recent attempt to reverse a piece of legislation that in 2009 granted transgendered Texans the right to legally marry. Brittany made some great ethical points in her article. She is right, transgender discrimination is appalling. Most other states don't view transgendered marriages as same sex marriages, because the states have recognized the individual's sex as legally changed after (in most cases) an operation to sex organs. So if the state agrees that an individual is a woman, they will not restrict any rights based on the fact that she was considered male previously. Not Texas, Perry wants to treat the transgendered as if they are playing dress-up, and play time is over when you want to get married. When asked to discuss the issue, a republican senator, Tommy Williams insisted the proposed redaction was to simplify things for the county clerks who handle marriage licensing. His goal with that statement was to seem less offensive, but he failed. How disgusting to not acknowledge that marriage, which lasts a life time, is much more important and significant than a county clerk having to learn a new way to file a marriage license. 
I absolutely agree with most of Brittany's points. She does say at on point that, "To go back on something that was put in place two years ago is absurd" and I feel it is important to remind everyone that mistakes happen in legislation often, though I don't feel this bit should be considered a mistake, I do think that revising legislation and admitting to over sites is in general a positive thing.

On a more personal note, I am married. My husband and I married in Texas and got to experience the applying for a marriage license process first hand. It consisted of going to the county clerks office with our driver's licenses and took all of 10 minutes. No one asked if I was biologically female, no one asked my husband if he was biologically male! No one asked for birth certificates or anything that alludes to my sex past the "F" on my license. There are plenty of oddities in the Texas marriage laws that should be dealt with before they even think of attacking transgendered couples. Texas allows marriage by proxy, that's right! You don't even have to be at your own ceremony or ever see your own marriage license in the state of Texas!