A transsexual, not his wife, should have custody of their two children, a court-appointed psychologist testified Thursday in a landmark Florida custody battle.

"My considered opinion is that Michael Kantaras would be the more appropriate parent for these children," said Dr. Robert Dies, an independent custody evaluator. "The evidence much more substantially comes down on behalf of the children being in the custody of their father."

The custody trial, which is now in its third day, has thus far centered on the sex of Michael Kantaras, a transsexual who has had his breasts and uterus removed but still has a vagina. Kantaras, 42, is battling his former wife of nine years, Linda Kantaras, a 33-year-old substitute teacher who says their marriage—and his custody claims— should be considered invalid because he is still legally a female.

But today the focus shifted to the children, 12-year-old Matthew Kantaras—conceived by his mother and another man and adopted by Michael Kantaras after their 1989 marriage — and 10-year-old Irina Kantaras — conceived after the marriage using sperm from Michael's brother.

Dies' testimony was the best look that those involved with this Pasco County trial are likely to get of the two, whom lawyers have said will not testify in court.

Spending nearly the entire day on the stand, the psychologist described how the children's psyches changed after the divorce using interviews and observations that he and other psychologists conducted between 1998 and 2001.

Their most striking change, he said, was how they felt about their father.

At first, Dies said, the children were positive about their Michael Kantaras, who works as a bakery manager. In an April 1999 evaluation featuring a "fill in the blank" quiz, Matthew Kantaras said in fact that "what I want to most of all is 'go fishing with my dad,'" Dies testified. When asked what was the most important thing in the world to her, Irina Kantaras replied, "That my mom and dad love me."

Later, however, the children seemed to turn against their father.

In one session, Matthew began cursing his father, saying "he's a prick, and [calling him] the f-word, bastard," according to the psychologist. The child added, "I wish I could punch them, Sherry and Dad. I don't like Sherry. She's butt-ugly."

Sherry Noodwang is Michael Kantaras' current partner, and the woman he allegedly left Linda Kantaras for, spurring his divorce request.

During the psychologist's fifth meeting with the children, Matthew even threatened to shoot his dad, and said "he made me miserable. If he really loved me, he'd change to become a man instead of a half-boy, half-girl."

Irina's attitude also took an abrupt about-face. At one point during therapy with another doctor, Dies reported, she spontaneously confronted her father, saying "you need to have privates and balls to be a man."

According to Dies, it wasn't growing pains that caused Michael Kantaras' children to reject him — it was his wife, who allegedly conducted a campaign designed to alienate the children from their father.

"There is all kinds of evidence," Dies testified, "that led me to think about Linda interfering with Michael's relationship with the children. My sense was at that point Linda was seriously labeling Michael, putting him down, and essentially blaming Michael and Sherry totally for the failure of a marriage."

In an April 2001 joint session with Linda and her children, for example, Linda Kantaras "portrayed Michael as a troubled individual living a lie because of his gender reassignment," Dies said, adding with a glance at his notes that the children "hear Michael described as an 'it,' a woman and a he-she, and given the name of "Margel," which is a combination of Michael and Margo."

Kantaras also spurred the drastic shift in attitudes, according to Dies, by frequently interfering with Michael Kantaras' visits. (The children lived with their mother since the 1998 separation.)

And the most important thing in choosing which parent gets custody, said the doctor, was choosing a parent that wouldn't get in the way of visitations from the non-residential parent.

Dies said the single most damaging act of alienation performed by Linda Kantaras came in November 2000 when she revealed to the children that their father not only wasn't their biological father — he was born as a woman.

Linda Kantaras had come to Dies saying that people in the community had knowledge of Michael Kantaras' sex change operation, and that she wanted her children to know the truth from her, not from their teachers or other children in the community. So she revealed to the children their father's secret — to their marked dismay and astonishment.

But later, Dies testified, he learned where the information leak to the community was coming from: Linda Kantaras herself.

"It was clear that Linda was sharing that kind of information in the community," Dies testified. "It becomes a systematic set of tactics to bring about a rupture in the relationship ... between the alienated parent and the children. When the disclosure to the children happened, that just played into the bigger picture of alienation that was going on in this family."

Fortunately, therapy with two separate psychologists was able to restore the children's respect for their father, Dies testified. But numerous times, Matthew and Irina Kantaras told the doctor they would prefer to live with their mother.

Despite the children's preference, Dies decided in an April 2001 report that Michael Kantaras should get the children.

"Obviously that was a very difficult decision to make in light of the children's consistent position that they'd like to live with their mother," Dies said. "Given the systematic poisoning," he testified, "Michael has not been given the chance that he deserved." Dies added that the children are likely afraid to express positive feelings toward their father.

Since that report, the children's attitudes changed drastically, Dies testified. In a session just one month ago, Dies reported, Irina said she wanted to live with her father—because her mother was too strict. Matthew, however, reportedly condemned his father as a sinner, saying he "needed to repent, as he is a lesbian, and is still a woman."

Linda Kantaras' attorney, Claudia Wheeler, will cross-examine Dies on Friday.

Monica Jordan, the sister of Michael Kantaras' new girlfriend

Another witness gave further insights into the efforts Linda Kantaras made to taint her children's view of their father.

Kantaras' attorney, Collin Vause, called Monica Jordan, a family friend who originally met Linda and Michael Kantaras through the PTA. Jordan told the court that she was part of a trio of girlfriends with Linda and Sherry Noodwang — Michael Kantaras' current girlfriend.

During 1997 and 1998, the three women spent a great deal of time together, going bowling, relaxing at the beach, or just talking at each other's homes.

But in July 1998, Jordan testified, Linda Kantaras revealed to her that her husband wanted to leave her for Sherry Noodwang. Jordan testified that she was incensed at their friend, and called to tell the woman that she didn't want to speak to her again.

A week later, Linda Kantaras took her to the family home and revealed that Michael had sexual reassignment, showing her pictures of him before and after the operation. One of the pictures Linda took out was a picture of Michael Kantaras sunbathing—and on his exposed chest were the scars left over from his breast removal surgery.

Soon after, Jordan testified, Linda Kantaras began acting irrational. "I just kind of backed out of the picture," she said. "She was very, very upset that Michael and Sherry were together and she wasn't going to stop at anything to keep Sherry away from her kids."

Jordan also testified that Michael Kantaras seemed like a loving and devoted father and that they respected him.

On cross-examination, Wheeler pointed out that Linda Kantaras' transsexual husband had left her for one of her best friends, and asked whether under those circumstances, "do you think her behavior was the least bit unusual?"

"Unusual to hate Sherry so much, yes," Jordan replied.

Wheeler also asked why Jordan willingly viewed the pictures of Michael Kantaras. "Michael was always Michael to me," the witness testified. "I needed proof in my own mind."

Vause called another family friend of the Kantaras,' Diana Lee Barbar, to try to show that Linda Kantaras had systematically tried to spread negative information about her husband throughout the community.

In brief testimony, Barbar testified that Linda Kantaras called her in the winter of 1998 warning her that Michael Kantaras had molested her child and could have done the same to her kids.

Her husband, Barbar said, ended the conversation by grabbing the phone and hanging up on Kantaras.

Testimony will continue at 9:30 a.m. Friday. The trial is being broadcast live on Court TV.