Transsexual Her Husband's Estate Lambda Legal Expresses Disappointment over Legal Injustice 1970 Edition of Webster's Dictionary Used to Determine Sex |
Compiled By GayToday Lambda Legal Defense
J'Noel Gardiner, who long had had strong feelings of female identity, successfully underwent sex re-assignment surgery in the early 1990's. She changed all of her legal identification to female, and her husband, Marshall, knew of her history prior to their marriage. But after his death, his son successfully challenged the couple's 1998 marriage, seeking to block J'Noel's claim to her spousal share of the estate under Kansas law. Lambda Legal, in its amicus brief to the intermediate court, argued against the trial court's refusal to recognize Gardiner's sex change. The Court of Appeals undertook a detailed review of the scientific literature about transgender biology and psychology to reject what it called "a rigid and simplistic approach" to determining sex; it ruled that courts must consider a wide range of factors and not focus solely on sex at birth when judging the legal gender of a person.
Former Lambda Legal Staff Attorney Doni Gewirtzman wrote the brief with assistance from Pamela Summers of the ACLU of Illinois, with Lisa Nathanson of the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri serving as local counsel. Lambda Legal represented the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition in its brief. (In the Matter of the Estate of Marshall G. Gardiner, No. 85,030) |