Littleton v. Prange


Littleton v. Prange, 9 S.W.3d 223, is a 1999 lawsuit that voided a marriage where one of the individuals was a transgender woman, Christie Lee Littleton. The Fourth Court of Appeals of Texas ruled that, for purposes of Texas law, Littleton was considered male, and that Littleton's marriage to a man was therefore invalid. Texas law did not recognize same-sex marriage, at the time of the ruling.

Background

Christie Lee Littleton was assigned male at birth, in San Antonio, Texas in 1952. Littleton dropped out of school at age 15 and began living as a woman. In 1977 Littleton began taking female hormones and legally changed her name to Christie Lee Cavazos. In 1980, Littleton underwent surgical reassignment and had the requisite state-issued identification changed to female. In the 1990s Littleton met and married Jonathan Mark Littleton in Kentucky, later moving to San Antonio.

Case

After her Jonathan Littleton's death, Littleton brought a medical malpractice suit against her husband's doctor, Mark Prange. The defense attorney argued that the marriage was invalid because Littleton was a biological male. On appeal, Chief Justice Phil Hardberger relied on the fact that "Texas statutes do not allow same-sex marriages" and that "male chromosomes do not change with either hormonal treatment or sex reassignment surgery" in handing down his judgment that "Christie Littleton is a male. As a male, Christie cannot be married to another male. Her marriage to Jonathon was invalid, and she cannot bring a cause of action as his surviving spouse."
The decision made it legal for a cis woman to marry a trans woman who had undergone sex reassignment surgery and transitioned to female as long as the two partners were assigned opposite sexes at birth.

In fiction

Littleton v. Prange is cited in the fictional 2010 Drop Dead Diva episode "Queen of Mean". In the episode, lawyers for a post-operative trans woman cite the case to prove that her marriage to a cis woman, entered into before she transitioned, was valid, allowing her to inherit her deceased wife's estate.