I think the problem is that people are mixed up between sex and gender, they are not necessarily the same. Any medical text will tell you that sex is chromosomal and gender is completely different. Gender is about how you identify. Sex is about reproduction equipment. I absolutely agree that this person is now in essence a woman its who she is regardless of what sex she might have been born into. Doesn't help that texas is probably the most homophobic US state.

I'm rather grateful that my family likes to stick together although we've never had anything like that happen.

LOLed at "..they were assigned the wrong body at birth."

Makes it sound like a beauracratic error.

It's not a mental illness, but it is a screw up in the brain's wiring. Mostly because it is a genetic dead end. You can't breed if you are transsexual (Transylvania!)

Oh great... now I have Rocky Horror stuck in my head.

If I ruled the would, people would be identified as whatever sex they feel most comfortable being identified as. This includes transgendered people of all stripes, regardless of what they look like or their genitals look like or whether they've even had any surgery or hormone treatment at all. If anyone doesn't like it, then tough, that's their problem.

I believe you are who you claim, if you say man, women, Australian, South African? (1 million thank you's Russell Crowe)

I'll say she / her long before surgery, if your dressed as a women, then given all the crap you go through and continue to go through, I'll address you as a women.

I say the gender you identify as is up to you, not your genes. Genes aren't everything, and this one sounds to me like a bunch of bigots looking for an excuse to cut the poor woman out of her spousal rights. Disgusting. The transgender thing is one I've never been able to figure out in relation to myself. Psychologicaly, I don't identify as female, but it's convenient for me to be physically female for a number of reasons and so wouldn't say I'm uncomfortable, as such. So I'm not transgender as such. I tend to class myself as biologically female, but in the more important psychological sense "gender undefined".

Hmm - it's an interesting one, but I'd say yes, someone should be 'classed' at a chromosomal level, there is the very rare exception of hermaphrodites who don't display a tendency for one gender over the other till they hit puberty, but by and large, being transgender is a choice, and yes it is a choice, there are forms they have to sign for their different operations which means they have had to make a decision. Just because you feel pulled towards something means you can opt out of another. I feel pulled towards sitting around at home all day, going for runs and mulling philosophical questions, that doesn't mean I can opt out of work and still expect my bills to be paid - yes it is a rather crude analogy, but it's before 12 on a Monday and I haven't had a coffee.

I'm all in favour of equal legal rights for all people regardless of sexual orientation. Including transsexuals.

That said, if someone discovers, after they are married, that their wife/husband is a post-op transsexual, then I think that should constitute adequate grounds for an annulment. THAT level of deception in a marital partner is more than anyone should have to out up with.

Mind you, I'm biased against big surprises like that. I still have all-too-vivid memories of waking up in Vegas next to a keg of beer wearing a wedding dress and a strap-on... ;-)

@ Chaz

"Has anyone in your family ever turned on you ...?"

Yep. Without any doubt whatsoever, I am the black sheep of my family. It's not easy to write about a family who pretends you're dead, (or wishes you were dead). Suffice to say, the one positive spin I can take out of my "family life" is that their reasons for disowning me are based almost entirely on the lies sown by a sadistic brother who LIVES for manipulating the people around him, (he is one seriously nasty piece of work). The harmful effect of Chinese whispers reaches a whole new level when they run through a family who love to single out the outcast for their vicious gossip.

Then again, maybe my family hate me because they're from the planet Alderaan, lol ;-)

Nikki's story is a sad one, and while this can be differentiated by the transsexual element, families squabbling over an inheritance is all too common. In fact, I doubt you could find one reader who can't relate some disgraceful inheritance bickering story from their own family.

This story highlights a law that was made a long time ago and is being perpetuated in order to disadvantage a minority. It is Texas after all.

As for gender, I personally don't think a person even needs the sex change operation for me to see them as whatever gender they ask me to see them. To me, you are what you say you are and you deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

I don't understand homophobic people. They seem to lack so many virtues (i.e. common sense, a SOUL). It just seems such a sad way to live. One of the things that pisses me off most about homophobic people is that they are, more often than not, Christian. The hypocrisy is so in your face, what with the acceptance and love-thy-neighbour bull-puckey, that I am thoroughly amazed they cannot see it. It disgusts me. Some of the most beautiful people I know are also the gayest people I know and I hate the stigma they have to put up with. Grr.

Anywho, the trasngender thing, I don't understand why people can't just accept it. It's a hard enough process for a person to go through without all the hate and crap which is thrown at them. It makes me sad and it makes me angry. It makes me not want to be human if being human if that's what being human means.

@Phil #6: I think you're confusing transgender people with people who have had sex change operations.

Transgender is most certainly NOT a choice. If it were really a choice, why do transgender people even exist? Why would these people intentionally "choose" to be something that makes their life a hell of a lot harder and exposes them to an incredible amount of bigotry with nary an upside?

As you say, having gender reassignment surgery IS a choice. It is a choice that is often made by transgender people (in close consultation with medical professionals) in order to make their lives a little bit more bearable. But if a transgender person decides not to go down this path, that doesn't suddenly make them not transgender.