TRANSSEXUAL CASE Man, fianc & eacute;e seek clarification

The couple also appealed the probate court judge's ruling.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A lawyer for a transsexual man and his fianc & eacute;e wants to know if there is any more for them to say about why they should be granted a marriage license.
Atty. Deborah Smith, one of the attorneys who represents Jacob B. Nash and Erin A. Barr of Howland, filed a motion for clarification Monday in Trumbull County Probate Court. The motion asks Judge Thomas Swift to tell the couple what he wants them to testify to during next month's hearing.
It is not known when the judge will answer the motion. He was unavailable to comment Monday.
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."
First application denied
The couple filed a second marriage application earlier this month. The judge set a hearing Nov. 5 to determine if the couple should be granted a license. The couple's first application was denied in September after a lengthy hearing.
Attorneys for the couple say that during the first hearing, they gave the judge all the information they have about why they should be allowed to marry. The judge said he denied the first request because Nash failed to disclose on the original application of marriage that he previously had been married.
The couple stated during a hearing Sept. 5 that they forgot to mention Nash's previous marriage, under the name of Pamela Ann Nash.
That marriage ended in divorce May 6, 1998, court records show.
The judge said the couple's explanation that they forgot the previous marriage lacks credibility.
Filed appeal
The couple filed a notice of appeal Monday with the 11th District Court of Appeals. Smith has argued that the couple should be granted a marriage license because Nash has an amended birth certificate from Massachusetts that states he is a male.
Nash said that he was born a female in 1964 and that he received the amended birth certificate about two years ago. Smith argued that 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.
sinkovich@vindy.com