Judge to decide rules in transsexual trial
By CONNIE PARISH, Times Staff Writer
A pre-trial hearing was scheduled this morning at press time on motions filed by a Topeka attorney representing a Leavenworth transsexual charged with false swearing in a marriage application.

Pedro Irigonegaray, acting on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, is representing Sandy Gast, who was arrested March 18 on the charge. Gast had applied for the marriage license in February and had planned to marry Georgi Somers on March 20.

Somers' daughter, Crystal Call, had contacted the county attorney's office with information that indicated Gast and Somers were men living as women. She referred to them as "pre-operative transsexuals."

Call's e-mail resulted in an investigation, and the county attorney's office filed a complaint with Leavenworth County District Court, alleging Gast was swearing falsely in an application for marriage. That is an unclassified misdemeanor, and according to Kansas statute, the punishment is a fine not to exceed $500.