Trans comic Jordan Raskopoulos falls foul of marriage laws

Comedian Jordan Raskopoulos has revealed she has to choose between her marriage and her gender.

The comedian, a third of the Axis Of Awesome band, recently came out as transgender in a video entitled What’s Happened to Jordan’s Beard?

But she cannot change her birth certificate to legally become a woman, because she is married. Australia does not recognise same-sex marriage, so changing her gender on the papework would breach that.

Raskopoulos said that her wife is ‘the most supportive person in the world’ but the law effectively ‘wants to bust us up’.

But speaking on Australian TV show The Project, she said: ‘The most difficult thing that we’re dealing with now is the thing that a lot of queer couple are dealing with which is the issue of marriage equality.

‘We’re already married but for me to legally change my gender on my birth certificate we have to be divorced. I can’t actually fix my birth certificate unless I am not married to a woman because under Australia’s law two women can’t be married.

‘It’s just another face of the marriage equality issue. We are happily married – the law kind of wants to bust us up.’

Australia is planning a referendum on the issue of same-sex marriage.

Watch the interview here.

Published: 18 Feb 2016