After a 14-month legal battle, a transgender couple from the Bronx was given permission to marry by the city clerk (below), who apologized for the treatment the couple received when they first attempted to get a marriage license. The couple, one male to female transgender and the other female to male, had been in a relationship for over a decade and attempted to wed in December 2009. But a worker at the City Clerk's Bronx office asked for their birth certificates because they didn't look like the sexes listed on their photo IDs, something Michael Silverman of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund calls "illegal and unconstitutional."
It's unclear why the worker asked for more ID since regardless of gender identification the couple was of opposite sex, but City Clerk Michael McSweeney said this wouldn't happen again. He wrote a letter (below) to employees stating, "Gender stereotypes or preconceived notions related to gender expression—including an applicant's physical appearance, dress behavior or name—may not be considered when deciding whether to issue a marriage license," and new training procedures have been developed. He also wrote a letter to the couple, referred to as Jane and John, stating, "We sincerely apologize to you both for any inconvenience or embarrassment that resulted from this incident."
Silverman told the Daily News, "This is the first time it's been written down in this form, to ensure this type of discrimination doesn't happen again." The couple hasn't yet gotten a marriage license, but plans on getting married in the near future.
