Fox News Affiliate Polls Readers on Transgender Marriage

by Jordan Rubenstein · 2010-08-19 16:05:00 UTC
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Transgender marriage issues are a complex issue, especially for states where marriage licenses are granted based on the sex listed on someone’s birth certificate, rather than their gender or legal sex on other documents. Such is the case in Texas, where the Littleton v. Prange case determined that sex in marriage is based on the sex on a person’s birth certificate.

Based on this law, Texas recognized a gay marriage. Earlier this year, Sabrina Hill, an intersex person who was raised as a male but transitioned to become a woman, legally married her cisgender girlfriend.

In response to this confusing and ironic law, conservative Texans are taking the marriage debate a step further. A Fox News affiliate in Texas, called FOX 26, is polling its website visitors, asking: “Should transgender or transsexual people be allowed to legally marry?”

That’s right, they aren’t asking whether transgender people should be able to marry someone of the opposite gender or if their marriage rights should be based on their birth sex. They’re asking if they should be able to marry at all.

Luckily, over 90% of voters said yes. But why is this question being asked in the first place? How can anyone support outright banning a group from getting any sort of marriage — even straight marriage?

And why is this type of ludicrous suggestion on a news website? One would think that the site would display news, not meaningless polls to find out how prejudiced their readers are.

Perhaps the poll isn’t surprising coming from a Fox News affiliate. It’s a typical example of attempts to base laws entirely on personal biases and prejudices. After all, where is the legal justification for denying someone marriage rights just because they had a sex change?

Photo credit: Alexandre Delbos

Jordan Rubenstein is the former president of Carnegie Mellon University's LGBT student organization, ALLIES. Jordan lives in New York City.
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