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he became pregnant because his wife Nancy couldn’t have children.
The couple, who married in 2003, are now trying to get divorced and work out the custody issues for their three children, plus the division of property and spousal support.
However the family court judge assigned to his case, Douglas Gerlach, is questioning the legitimacy of the marriage, because after being legally declared male, Beatie performed that most female of miracles — child birth.
The validity of the Beatie’s marriage now hangs in the balance, as same-sex marriage is forbidden in Arizona and the state doesn’t recognise same-sex marriages performed in other states.
Beatie was born a woman, Tracy Lehuanani Lagondino, in 1974 in Oahu, Hawaii.
After undergoing male-hormone therapy he was legally allowed to change his birth certificate and driver’s licence to say he is a man. He was also legally allowed to get married as a man.
Judge Gerlach understands that, but as he wrote into the court record, “In other words, it appears that, by any reasonable standard, (Beatie) was the biological mother of those children at the times they were born.
“As such, parties’ marriage was between a female and a person capable of giving birth, who later did so.”
He asked the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for an opinion as to whether this was a valid marriage or a same-sex — and consequently invalid — marriage, but they declined the invitation to get involved.
“I was surprised at the remarkable indifference I received,” Gerlach said in open court on Friday.
So it is up to him to make a decision that, however he rules, is likely to be taken to the Court of Appeals. Gerlach said he would reach a decision by early February.
Beatie has called the judge’s decision “frustrating”.
“I live my life, I know who I am and someone else’s opinion, even though it is a judge’s opinion is not going to change that. I am Thomas, I am husband, I am father, I am a man, hear me roar,” he told Anderson Cooper last month.
Cooper pointed out that he could get the marriage annulled but Beatie, though recognising it would be the easiest thing to do says: “My marriage did happen and I was married to Nancy for almost ten years, we paid taxes, we bought and sold homes, we started a family together and I want that to be validated. It’s being challenged right now so if I back down from it we all lose.”
His marriage to first wife Nancy reached a bitter end when footage of her appearing to violently attack her husband, mishandle their children and destroy their computer emerged.
He has previously claimed that Nancy was a violent alcoholic who would attack him in the night and once punched him in the crotch in front of the kids.
In May, a judge gave Beatie temporary full custody over the couple’s three children.
He said: “It’s been a process. We physically separated back in March when I filed for separation and there was a protective order but basically I didn’t wear my wedding ring for a year prior to that.”
“We were supposed to finalise the divorce back a couple of months ago and the judge is thinking it’s out of jurisdiction and potentially could rule it as same sex marriage.”
Beatie has filed documents hoping to prove his marriage’s legitimacy, highlighting that both his US passport and his Hawaii birth certificate list him as a man.
When he was in his 20s he began having testosterone injections, giving him facial hair, a lower voice and altering his sexual organs.
The couple met shortly after Beatie began taking the testosterone. Nancy is 11 years older than him and has two teenage daughters, Amber and Jen, from a previous marriage. — Daily Mail.
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