TRUMBULL COUNTY Marriage request submitted again

Judge Swift denied the application last month.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A day after a Trumbull County probate judge said he will not reconsider his decision to deny a marriage license to a transsexual man and the woman he wants to marry, the couple submitted a new application.
Jacob B. Nash and Erin A. Barr of Howland appeared at the court this morning with an application.
"We were hoping to get this approved today," said Atty. Randi Barnabee, one of the couple's attorneys. "Usually if a couple brings in a filled-out online application the license can be approved the same day, but they wouldn't do it."
The couple instead was told that the application would be set for a hearing. A hearing date was not scheduled.
"I believe it is a blatant violation of our civil rights," said Barr. "We just want to get married."
Barnabee said the couple doesn't plan to give up.
Want Swift to preside
On the latest application, the couple indicate if they get the marriage license they would like Probate Judge Thomas Swift to preside over their wedding ceremony.
"They already had a religious service so they figured this time it could be done in court," Barnabee said.
Judge Swift could not be reached.
The judge ruled earlier this week to deny the couple's request to grant their first marriage request for a marriage application.
Case history
The couple filed their first application in August, but last month Judge Swift denied that request because Nash failed to disclose on the original application of marriage that he had been previously married.
The couple stated during a Sept. 5 hearing they forgot to mention Nash's previous marriage under the name of Pamela Ann Nash. Nash's first marriage ended in divorce May 6, 1998, court records state.
The judge's ruling also says the couple did not follow procedure in letting the court know they wanted to file an amended application.
"The applicants' explanation at the evidentiary hearing that the applicants forgot Jacob B. Nash's previous marriage and divorce was not convincing and lacked credibility," the ruling states.
Atty. Deborah A. Smith, who, along with Barnabee, represents the couple, submitted a brief stating that at the beginning of the Sept. 5 hearing, she asked the court for permission to file an application for a marriage license and the judge granted the motion. The amended application states Nash was previously married.
The brief also says a license should be granted because Nash has an amended birth certificate from Massachusetts that states Nash is a male.
A transsexual is described in Webster's New World Dictionary as "a person who is predisposed to identify with the opposite sex, sometimes so strongly as to undergo surgery and hormone injections to effect a change of sex."
Smith argued state law says that to get a marriage certificate, one person must show proof of being male and the other must show proof of being female. Barr testified during the four-hour hearing that her West Virginia-issued birth certificate does not state her gender.
sinkovich@vindy.com