'Pregnant Man' Divorce: Transgender Father of Three Thomas Beatie Fights Arizona Judge to Prove 2003 Hawaii Wedding Invalid (Video)

Transgender Hawaii native Thomas Beatie, who was born a woman and later underwent a double-masectomy with hormone therapy to become a man, faced an Arizona judge who rejected a divorce from his previous marriage under the grounds that Beatie did not prove his marriage was not a same-sex marriage.

"This obviously is not Beatie versus Beatie," Beatie said, according to The Huffington Post. "This is the state of Arizona versus transgender people, human reproductive rights and fairness under law."

Beatie plans to appeal the ruling for his divorce case. He married his partner Nancy in early 2003 in Honolulu and became pregnant with donated sperm after finding out that Nancy could not conceive children. Soon after, the couple moved to Arizona.

"Imagine what this is doing to my children," Beatie said as he held the hand of his girlfriend of one year. "In time, they are going to look back and see that a court said that's not your daddy. I'm sorry, that's who I am. I am my children's father."

Maricopa County Family Court Judge Douglas Gerlach ruled Thursday that Arizona's ban on same-sex marriages prevents Beatie's marriage from being recognized as valid.

Gerlach said he had no jurisdiction to approve a divorce because there's insufficient evidence that Beatie was a man when he got married. The judge said the Beaties never provided records to fully explain what Thomas Beatie actually had done and not done to become a man. The ruling also noted that Thomas Beatie had halted the testosterone treatments.

Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which isn't involved in the Beatie case, said the decision doesn't set a precedent and instead applies only to Thomas and Nancy Beatie. Still, Minter said the decision is legally flawed and demoralizing to transgender people.

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