September 5, 2007
Malaysian Couple's Marriage Dissolved: Husband Proven to be a Woman
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 1 MIN.
A Muslim couple's marriage was dissolved by a court in Malaysia following a physician's examination that found the husband to be female.
The Advocate's online edition reported today that a sharia court ordered the dissolution of the marriage of Mohamed Sofian Mohamad and Zaiton Aziz. The couple's marriage was challenged in court by the Register of Marriage for the state of Melaka after their 2002 wedding, prompted by Aziz's family saying that Mohamad was in fact a woman.
Mohamad originally had been named Mazinah Mohamad. According to state lawyer Mohamed Mohtar Karim, she changed the name on her identity card. Mohamad wears her hair short and wears men's clothing, but when doctors examined her, they verified that she is anatomically female.
Mohamad Mokhtar told the Associated Press, "From the examination results, he's entirely a woman."
Continued Mokhtar, "He dresses like a man, but if you look at him, personally, I think, he looks like a woman. He has got breasts and everything."
Malaysian law is complex, with sharia law applying to Muslims and secular laws applying to non-Muslims. Under neither system of laws is it permitted for couples of the same gender to marry.
The country is predominantly Muslim, accounting for sixty per cent of its 27 million citizens.
The couple were not accused of being lesbians, however. That issue was not addressed in court, said Mokhtar, who said that the subject of whether they were lesbians was "speculation."
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
