After 14 Months, Transgender Couple Is Licensed to Marry in NYC
It took 14 months, but an unidentified couple in New York City now has a license to get married.
And, in the process of battling for their rights, the two have persuaded the city clerk’s office to adopt a new written policy for dealing with transgender people, the New York Daily News reported.
It is that they will be treated the same way as everyone else: “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,” writes City Clerk Michael McSweeney.
The couple in this case, who are known only as Jane and John, were asked by a worker in the Bronx to produce birth certificates because their appearance didn’t match the genders listed on their identification cards, the article says.
One member of the couple is female-to-male transgender, the other is male-to-female, according to Michael Silverman of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund.
He says this is the first time such a policy has been put in writing in the Big Apple.
