"PREGNANT MAN" THOMAS BEATIE, IS "MOTHER" AND "FATHER" OF 3 CHILDREN, SEEKS DIVORCE FROM "WIFE": Family Law Update!

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THOMAS BEATIE, "THE PREGNANT MAN"

From a family law perspective, Thomas Beatie raises a number of interesting issues.

Depending upon which "experts" one consults regarding the "Thomas Beatie" phenomenon, Beatie may be all of the following in one person:
a son, a daughter, an uncle, an aunt, a man, a woman, a husband, a wife, a father, a mother, etc.!

Beatie is a "transgender male" who kept (preserved) all of his female reproductive organs, and gained international media attention after publicly announcing his first pregnancy in 2007. He (she) has now given birth to 3 children and is working on having a fourth child [see, www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/ "Thomas Beatie, 'The Pregnant Man', Wants a Fourth Child"].

In 2010 "Guiness World Records" recognized Mr. (Ms.) Beatie as the world's "First Married Man to Give Birth" [see, Guiness World Records, 2010 Edition, page 110].

When announcing his (her) first pregnancy, Beatie posted photographs of his (her) body shirtless with a beard and a very pregnant belly on the Internet. Thus, Beatie immediately became popularly known as the world's first "Pregnant Man", and began a long string of publicity appearances on such television shows as "The View", The "Anderson Cooper" program, et al.

DIVORCE DEBACLE IN ARIZONA

Thomas Beatie and his now-very estranged "wife" live in the state of Arizona.

Arizona is one of many states that does not recognize same-sex marriage.

Thomas Beatie and his "wife" have filed for divorce in Arizona. But, there's a problem: Neither the judge in the Beatie divorce case nor the Arizona Attorney General are sufficiently confident as to what Beatie's gender is!

Therefore, the Arizona family law judge (Judge Douglas Gerlack of Maricopa County, Arizona) is presently considering whether he actually has jurisdiction to grant a "divorce" to a transgender male who married a woman and then gave birth to 3 children.

Beatie was allowed to change his birth certificate to say he is a man, and allowed to enter into marriage as a man. But Judge Gerlach says same-sex marriages are not allowed in Arizona and he’s not sure whether he has jurisdiction. He asked the Arizona Attorney General's office for an opinion, but it declined. On Friday, Gerlach said he planned to rule by February.

Even if he does not have jurisdiction to grant the divorce, Judge Gerlach said, he can still rule on custody and property division under his common law authority.

[see, Family Law: "Arizona Judge Ponders Jurisdiction in Divorce Case of Pregnant Man", www.abajournal.com/news/article/12-13-2012/ Debra Cassens Weiss; www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article/11-15-2012/ "Pregnant Man and New Girlfriend Talk Babies..."]