We’ve all heard stories of couples growing apart. People do change after all and sometimes it’s hard for two individuals to evolve together instead of slowly drifting away from one another. However, there are always degrees of change and some forms of evolution are more expected than others are.

According to Bay News 9 (10/04/06) out of Tampa Bay, Florida, one man is struggling with quite an extreme change on the part of his former wife. Perhaps, to some his lamenting may sound as if he’d mostly just like to get out of paying alimony but hey, given the few details available, I might rather understand his misgivings.

You see, although one often hears stories, especially of the older generation deciding to come out of the closet at mid-life, this dude’s wife had an operation to become a man. Lawrence Roach from Seminole feels that he shouldn’t have to pay the $1,200 US a month, support payments required in the couple’s divorce settlement.

Divorced 18 months ago after a 17-year marriage, Mr. Roach is quoted as saying, “This isn’t right. It’s humiliating to me and degrading. You know, I’m a man and I don’t want to be paying alimony to a man. If you can’t be married to a man legally, how can you legally pay alimony to a man?”

The television station’s legal analyst Joe Episcopo doubts that Roach can win any fight to get out of paying alimony as, “His divorce decree is basically a contract that he has to follow. Alimony is based on their relationship while they were married, not after the marriage is over.”

Personally, I don’t agree necessarily that it’s degrading to pay alimony to a man and one day Kevin Federline will probably agree with me. Nevertheless, one thing that might arguably be unfair is that the only way the alimony payments can end, is by death or remarriage of the spouse. Legal marriage for his ex-wife might be complicated by her choice to change genders.

Nevertheless, the whole tale invokes a post-modern tribute to Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis in reverse with the former Mrs. Roach turning into a man.