Considering Marriage?

[Phillip]

For those of us that have established their identities and have found that special someone in their lives, did you know that there are several States that will allow a marriage to be performed?

Feel free to contact me for further information about the laws of these States if you wish.

[C-R]

Betsy,

Would this be considered a legal marriage? And is this due to the laws of homosexuals wanting to marry, or is it specifically for us IS folks?

CR

[Betsy]

Hi Phil,

Can you share some more information about this?

[Phillip]

Dear Betsy,

I myself was married in Las Cruces New Mexico in 1977 by a Justice of the Peace in the Courthouse. Before the marriage took place I consulted with an attorney as to its legality, along with the Judge that married me.

According to New Mexico law, if you are publically deemed a "de facto" person, as in my case, living a life with all aspects as a man, then you are deemed to be a man, and can marry a woman.

It has to do with the way their State Statute is written regarding marriage; something to do with the way it's written "any person".
All I had to do was establish "person" as being male.

The process was really quite simple. I declared myself as male under California's "Usage Act" and got my driver's license, social security card, and birth certificate reissued, changing info from female to male. However, original documents are always kept on file somewhere with the ammended documents and a copy of the court order. Now in order to institute the Usage Act in Calif. it means a court appearance, as a court order is needed to change your life documents, and you need to show the court that you have lived life on a daily basis as a man for at least one year. There are several different ways of showing that.

Once I got my court order, ( I was in court less that 30 minutes and walked out with my order) I left an old life behind, and started a new one. I was 21 years old. And for the first time in my life, I think I actually started to breathe.

Understand that I didn't use California to comply with New Mexico. At that time, I didn't have plans to marry, and didn't even know about New Mexico Law. It happens that I grew up in Texas, 40 miles from Las Cruces, and met someone and we decided to get married. This was 3 years after I got my court order.

Funny thing. It was my mother's idea that I may want to check marriage laws before I tried to get married, as people don't think the way I do. I got a resounding NO from Texas, and they made it very clear that they didn't care about ANY court order. In New Mexico the court clerk and the Judge were very understanding, and if there was ever any personal opinion on their part, I never saw or heard it.

So what it boils down to, is rights. Civil rights. Not personal opinions.

Since then, I have researched and found other States that have the same opinion as New Mexico, and also found which States that will not allow marriages.

I hope this better answers your questions. Feel free to contact me if you need further information.

Thanks,
Phil