Littleton v. Prange

Abstract

The Court of Appeals for Texas, Fourth District, San Antonio, ruled that a man who identifies himself as a woman after gender reassignment surgery is still a man under the state statute on marriage. As the surviving spouse, Christie Lee Littleton sued Dr. Mark Prange for the wrongful death of her husband in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Prange asserted that Littleton, born Lee Cavazos, Jr., is a man and thus under state law cannot be married to a man. The trial court judge agreed and granted summary judgment. In this appeal of a case of first impression, the appellate court upheld the trial court and ruled the marriage to be invalid. The court based its decision on the fact that "[t]he male chromosomes do not change with either hormonal treatment or sex reassignment surgery. Biologically a post-operative female transsexual is still a male" due to genetics.