Still so far to go
Jayla Wilkerson Despite some progress, gender status still affects access to health care, housing, custody and more DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writertaffet@dallasvoice.com Attorney Kerri Bertrand recently represented the defendant in one of the first divorce and custody cases in Texas filed against a non-binary parent.
In an affidavit submitted in the case, the husband charged that his spouse was exposing their child to “the LGBT lifestyle.” That, Bertrand explained, was a ploy to win custody that would ordinarily have worked in this Corsicana courtroom. “What scared the other attorney was [that] a Dallas attorney showed up,” Bertrand said.
The opposing side had based their entire case on anti-LGBTQ bigotry. But Bertrand wasn’t putting up with that, and in the end her client retained primary custody.
Transgender attorney Jayla Wilkerson said custody and equal division of property are still real concerns in cases involving a transgender spouse.
