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Husband Changed SexWife Seeks Unusual DivorceCOCOA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -A Cocoa Beach waitress has filed a divorce suit against a woman who is legally her husband and father of her 5-year-old son.Carolyn Ann Earthorne said the seven-year marriage was “irretrievably broken after her husband went to Morocco for an operation that changedhim from Gordon Dale Ear-thorae to Kathy Ann Earthorne.Carolyn Earthorne declined interviews. Her laywer, Walter Stockman, said Tuesday, It’s the most unusual divorce I’veHeed U Phd TakesOne Yearever handled. The legal reason is that the marriage is irretrievably broken, but the basic reason is obvious.Kathy Earthorne said she would not contest the suit.“I’ve felt like a girl ever since I was a child, she said. I knew very early that something was different about me. but it wasn’t until after I was married that I realized what it was and that something could be done about it.She said their son knows who I am and who I was and loves me just the same. He’s a very bright little boy.The Earthornes were married Oct. 2,1967 in Detroit, where he worked for Chrysler Corp.In 1972 he legally changed his name to Kathy. Then he wrote to a sex-change clinic in Casablanca, Morocco.“I was accepted for the operation and had it done Sept. 19, 1972. It cost 14,000. I couldn't afford to have it done in the States because it costs $10,000 to $12,000 here, she said.The Earthornes are separated now, but Kathy said she and Carolyn lived together after the operation was performed.We are still good friends,” Kathy said. “Carolyn knew what I was going through, and while she didn’t like it, she supported me.Kathy said that as a man she never considered herself a homosexual.“That's the first question asked by the psychiatrist I saw before I was accepted for the operation,” she said. I told him, ‘No. I’m a woman trapped in a man’s body.’ ’’She said her parents, with whom she now lives, didn’t learn about the operation until she returned from Morocco.They weren’t too much for it at first, she said. But now they’re all for me.Kathy said she had a boyfriend now and hoped someday to remarry.I feel 101 per cent better as a woman. I am a woman and I need a man, she said. But I want to be sure he is the right person.Kathy said she sometimes gets stares and rude remarks from people who know her history but it doesn’t bother her.I don't let it bother me any more, she said. People are more enlightened about these things now, but there are still a lot who are psychologically ignorant.
Newspaper Details
Naples Daily News
Naples, Florida, US
Wed, May 15, 1974
Page 93
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 20 Dec 2018
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