by Rex Wockner
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A trial court judge in Hong Kong ruled against letting a postoperative male-to-female transsexual get married Oct. 5.
Judge Andrew Cheung expressed worry about the consequences of recognizing sexual-reassignment surgery for marriage purposes, saying it would have implications for preoperative transsexuals and same-sex couples, and for family, social-welfare, criminal and immigration law.
He further expressed concern about the possibility of surgical sex-change reversals, about whether people who had sex-reassignment surgery should be required to inform a future spouse of that fact, and whether such occurrences could lead to annulments.
Cheung said that unless procreation is seen as a fundamental theme of marriage, then there's no reason to oppose transsexual marriage, same-sex marriage or polygamy.
He made reference to the United Kingdom's civil-partnership law, which grants same-sex couples all rights of marriage under a different name, and hinted that such a scheme would be preferable to allowing transgender or same-sex marriages in Hong Kong.
