A hole into a pole

From Bay News 9-

A Seminole man is fighting to stop alimony payments to his ex-wife because the woman is now a man.

Lawrence Roach says his ex-wife has had a sex change and is now living as a man with a new identity. Roach says he should be allowed discontinue $1,200 in monthly alimony payments.

"This isn't right. It's humiliating to me and degrading," Roach said. "You know, I'm a man and I don't want to be paying alimony to a man. If you can't be married to a man legally, how can you legally pay alimony to a man?"

Roach and his ex-wife, who Bay News 9 is not identifying, divorced 18 months ago after being married for more than 17 years. Roach said he should no longer have to make alimony payments because his ex-wife is no longer the person he married.

Bay News 9 legal analyst Joe Episcopo doubts that Roach will win his battle.

"His divorce decree is basically a contract that he has to follow,"

Episcopo said. "Alimony is based on their relationship while they were married, not after the marriage is over."

Episcopo said unless Roach's ex-wife remarries or one of them dies he's required by law to pay alimony for life.

Mr. Episcopo's reasoning sounds right to me. Changing one's gender shouldn't change the validity of a contract a person agreed to. Sexual reassignment surgery(SRS) has been around for 30-40 years in the United States. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a legal precedent for the sitution Mr. Roach currently has with his ex-wife.

As to the ex-wife, transsexuals face lots of obstacles in the world. Ex spouses and difficulites with their family are just two. Female to Male SRS isn't quite the same as Male to Female for obvious reasons.(Refer to the title of this post) Not all F2M(or M2F for that fact) go the surgery route, its both costly and for obvious reasons not really able to do the physical alterations. Though many F2Ms have been very happy post op. Good luck to both the Roachs.

Hat tip- Linda of the Cotillion via Greta at Hooah Wife and Friends
Linked to- Clash of Civilizations, Samantha Burns,