Transsexual wins custody of 2 kids

In the first decision of its kind in Florida, a judge rules the transsexual is a man and his marriage was legal.

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 22, 2003

CLEARWATER -- As a young girl, Margo Kantaras preferred toy guns and cowboy hats to playing house with her sisters. When she grew up, Margo decided to undergo a sex change and change her name to Michael.

"I may have been born in one body, but my mind and my soul and my heart is that of a male," Kantaras said last year. "You don't need certain body parts to be a good person and a good parent."

A Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge agreed on Friday. In the first decision of its kind in Florida, a judge ruled that Kantaras is a man under Florida law. The judge granted him custody of his adopted child and a second child conceived with his brother's sperm.

"There is no justification in the law to hold a transsexual to a higher standard than all heterosexuals in approaching marriage," the judge ruled.

The 809-page ruling by Senior Judge Gerard O'Brien Jr. came just over a year after a three-week custody trial that touched on the medical and philosophical questions of gender.

"This confirms what Michael has known all his life, that he's a man," said Kantaras' attorney, Collin Vause. "You will hear from some people that a transsexual can't possibly be a good parent. The judge slapped that idea down pretty hard."

Kantaras, 43, declined to be interviewed. He said in a statement: "I'm so relieved. Now my kids and I can get on with our lives in peace."

His ex-wife, Linda Kantaras, 34, and her attorney did not return calls for comment. They have previously said they would appeal a ruling if they lost.

Linda knew that Michael Kantaras was a transsexual when she married him in 1989. The couple lived in Pasco County.

Michael Kantaras adopted Linda's oldest child, now 13, shortly after the boy's birth. The boy's biological father was Linda's former boyfriend. Michael was named the father of the younger child, now 11, who was conceived through artificial insemination with donor sperm from Michael's brother.

After the marriage broke apart in 1998, Linda Kantaras and her attorney argued that she should get custody of the children because their marriage wasn't legal under Florida law, which bars same-sex marriages.

But in his ruling Friday, O'Brien said the marriage was valid because Michael is a man.

"This case was always about who was a better parent to care for the kids," said Tamara Lange, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union's Lesbian and Gay Rights project. "The court saw that."

She said the decision set a precedent in Florida for defining gender and expanding marriage and custody rights of transsexuals.

But religious conservatives said the ruling devalued traditional family values.

"Even more liberalized countries in Europe aren't going this far," said Mathew Staver, president of the Liberty Counsel, a religious rights group based in Orlando.

O'Brien's decision crisscrossed a virtually unexplored Florida legal landscape. For legal precedent, the judge's ruling examined everything from Australian case law to transsexualism in the Orient.

The judge noted that for all appearances, Michael Kantaras is a man.

"Michael is visibly male," O'Brien wrote. "He has a deep, masculine voice, a chin beard and a mustache, a thinning hair line and some balding, wide shoulders, muscular arms and the apparent shifting of fat away from the hips toward the stomach.

"He has a pronounced maleness that prompts one to automatically refer to Michael with the pronoun he or him."

Denying transsexuals the right to marry "violates their constitutional rights and degrades them as human beings," according to the ruling.

The judge said the court could not deny transsexuals the right to marry simply because they cannot conceive children, because heterosexuals who cannot conceive children can marry, he said.

In deciding who should have custody of the children, O'Brien noted that both parents loved their children. But he said he was concerned about Linda Kantaras' anger problems. The judge said she has violated court orders and interfered with Michael's visitation.

Michael Kantaras, a bakery manager, won temporary custody of his children last spring after O'Brien ruled that his ex-wife violated a court order to refrain from using Michael's sex change to turn the children against him.

Linda Kantaras, a substitute teacher, retained visitation of her children.

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