Mom Fights Transsexual For Custody ORANGE, Calif. (AP) - A woman should get sole custody of her daughter because the child's father was born a woman and had surgery to become a man, making the union a same-sex marriage, her lawyer argued in court Friday. "We're contending a person is born with a certain gender, a person is born with a certain identity, and nothing done by cosmetics can change that"' attorney Larry Ross said. Kristin Vecchione, 27, is seeking an annulment from her husband, Joshua Vecchione, who was born Janine 40 years ago, and custody of their 3-year-old daughter. The judge said he would make a decision next week. Vecchione began his sex change treatments and surgery in 1976 and has lived and looked like a man since. The couple's daughter was conceived by artificial insemination, using sperm from Vecchione's brother. Arguing on behalf of Vecchione, Taylor Flynn of the American Civil Liberties Union said that California law does recognize the rights of transsexuals by allowing them to apply for a new birth certificate with their post-operative gender. Ross contended Vecchione never applied for a new birth certificate in California. Mrs. Vecchione insisted she did not know her husband was born a woman. Rather, she said he told her he was born with the genitalia of both sexes, which she considered a congenital defect. "He didn't tell me that truth that he was, in fact, born a female, and I consider him a female now. It was not my choice to marry a transsexual." Vecchione argues that he always told his wife the truth. "I explicitly explained to her that I changed my sex," Vecchione said. "I explained in detail the surgeries I had." Outside court, he said he is the girl's father regardless of his chromosomes. "She's my little girl and I will not allow her mother to take her away and not allow her to have the right to two parents." The parents have been sharing time with their daughter during the dispute.
	AP-NY-11-21-97 2314EST
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