Leavenworth — Sandy Gast insists she was telling the truth earlier this year when she told the Leavenworth county clerk of the district court's office she was a woman intent on marrying Georgi Somers.
| Judge clears transsexual of charges A transsexual accused of filing a false marriage license application was cleared today by a Leavenworth County district court judge. ... Full story. |
Leavenworth County authorities disagreed. After learning Somers and Gast were transsexuals and that Gast had checked the box marked female on the marriage license application, sheriff's deputies went to the couple's home, handcuffed Gast and took her to jail.
Gast, who later was to have a sex change operation but even then considered herself a woman, was forced to strip off her shorts, flip-flops and halter top and shower in front of a male deputy.
Gast, 49, was in court Monday, accused of filing a false marriage-license application, which is a misdemeanor.
Georgi Somers, left, and Sandy Gast hold each other Monday during a break in courtroom proceedings in Leavenworth County. Gast is accused of filing a false document when she indicated she was a female on her marriage license application.
Her attorney, Pedro Irigonegaray, compared the proceedings to the 1925 Scopes "monkey trial," during which Tennessee science teacher John Scopes was prosecuted for teaching evolution. Leavenworth officials, Irigonegaray argued, were no less ignorant in their attacks on Gast.
Leavenworth County Atty. Frank Kohl declined comment on Gast's claims that she was mistreated while in jail.
"That's a civil matter; you'll have to ask (county counselor) David Van Parys," he said. Efforts to reach Van Parys for comment were unsuccessful.
Legal issues
Kohl said Gast was charged because under Kansas law, marriage is between a man and a woman. Also, the Kansas Supreme Court in 2001 ruled that a person's sex is determined at birth and is not subject to change, no matter what happens in surgery.
Gast's birth certificate, the prosecutor argued, lists her as male. It's also true, he said, that Gast has been married three times -- each time to a woman -- and that one of those marriages produced a child.
For Gast to claim she is now a woman violates the law, Kohl said.
"If the Legislature wants to change the law, they are free to do so," he said. "But they haven't, so here we are."
Irigonegaray said he hoped to overturn the high court's ruling.
"The state should not have authority to deny (transsexuals) their fundamental rights to marriage," he said, noting that issues raised in Gast's case are different from those surrounding the same-sex marriage debate.
"This is a case where my client has been criminally charged and is being criminally prosecuted for no other reason than the fact she believes herself to be a woman."
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Dr. Eric Vilain, an assistant professor of human genetics and urology at UCLA, testified on behalf of the defense that determining a person's sex at birth is not as obvious as it appears. He cited several examples of people who appear to be female but who have the chromosomes, hormones, organs and brain functions of a male and vice versa.
Vilain said a person's gender was not automatically defined by genitalia. Babies who appear to be males at birth, he said, may grow up to be women and vice versa.
It doesn't make sense, he said, to consider someone a male or female solely because they were born with a penis or a vagina.
Asked whether he thought Gast was lying when she applied for the marriage license as a female, Vilain said no, noting that it's entirely possible that in Gast's view she is indisputably female.
Gast is expected to testify today. A Leavenworth native, she spent three years in the U.S. Air Force and, for many years, worked as an auto mechanic.
Somers, 63, served in the U.S. Navy and was married to a woman for 35 years. Somers' wife died in 1999. The couple had five children.
In court, Somers and Gast, who met in 2002, both dressed as women.
Gast has said she first realized she was female when she was 8 years old. She recently underwent a "sexual reassignment" operation. Her penis was removed and a vagina was constructed in its place.
Gast's therapist, Ron McCorkle, said Gast was sexually abused from age 7 to 14 by her father after he overheard Gast confide to her brother that she hoped to grow up to be a mother and have children.
Though traumatized by the abuse, Gast appears to be "very comfortable in her role as a woman," McCorkle said, noting that he has encouraged Gast to act as a woman.
The trial, which is before Leavenworth County District Judge Frederick Stewart, is expected to continue one to three more days.
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