Lawyers for a Florida transsexual fighting for custody of his two children called their client a devoted father who exposed himself to the world in order to save his children, while his wife's attorney discounted their case for portraying her client as the villain.

" [Michael Kantaras'] love for his children is so powerful that he was willing to give up the privacy that he has known since 1987. He was willing to give up the life that he had been living since 1987 to come before this court, and before the nation, to ask you for custody of his children," said attorney Collin Vause.

"Everything in this case has been characterized as bad, bad Linda Kantaras and poor, poor Michael Kantaras," Linda Kantaras' attorney, Claudia Wheeler, told the court. "This trial should be called 'Bad, Bad Linda Kantaras," she added sarcastically. "Because bad, bad Linda Kantaras married someone who thinks he is a man and was born a woman."

After three weeks and dozens of witnesses, this Pasco County custody battle over who will have primary custody of the couple's two children — Matthew, 12, and Irina, 10 — is now in the hands of Circuit Court Judge Gerard O'Brien, who came out of retirement to hear the case, citing the important issues involved.

After court, both parties seemed optimistic that O'Brien had heard their best argument.

"We're very confident that he has heard a good case and will make the right decisions," said Michael Kantaras, accompanied by his girlfriend Sherry Noodwang. "I love Matthew and Irina more than my life itself. I don't ever want my children to feel that they're not loved."

Linda Kantaras told Court TV she thought God would guide O'Brien in his ruling and added that regardless of the outcome of the case she plans to allow Michael Kantaras to visit the children. "Michael is today still the only dad my kids have ever known," she said.

While this case is at heart a custody battle, it's outcome could determine more than who obtains custody of the Kantaras children. As part of his ruling, O'Brien must decide whether Kantaras, 42, who had his breasts, ovaries and uterus removed and takes male hormones, is legally a male. He never took his medical treatments as far as phalloplasty — the construction of a penis using fat and skin.

Michael Kantaras' lawyer, Collin Vause

The bakery manager has maintained that his transsexual status has no bearing on his ability to be a good father to his children, and that the surgery he underwent should be sufficient for him to be considered a man in the eyes of the law.

But Linda Kantaras, a 33-year-old substitute teacher, has charged that her husband is not a man and that their marriage and his custody claims are therefore void.

Wheeler reiterated this point in her closing argument and warned O'Brien that calling Michael Kantaras a man could have ominous repercussions.

"If you open the door this much it's going to be like the barnyard door coming open," the lawyer said. "If Michael can be a male because Michael thinks he is a male, and because of some surgery, your honor, then we're headed for big trouble… It will create utter chaos. I believe the floodgates will be opened."

During their case-in-chief, Michael Kantaras' lawyers called physicians and psychologists to the stand to testify about his gender transformation; they called friends and co-workers who testified he was a man; and they called his parents who testified that they accept Michael fully as their son.

"His family knows it, the community knows it, and the medical community knows it. And now, your honor, you've been asked to decide whether the legal community knows that Michael Kantaras is a man," said Karen Doering, during her portion of closing arguments for Michael Kantaras.

Linda Kantaras' lawyer, Wheeler, discounted the three experts brought in by Michael Kantaras' team. "They are all part of this transsexual wave," she said. "They all have something to gain by the testimony in this case. He would like us to believe that his clitoris has somehow been magically transformed into a penis, but no one but Michael Kantaras can tell you that."

Doering, however, laid out several reasons why Michael Kantaras should be considered a man, citing supportive public policy, the parenting ability of her client, and the financial support he gave the children as their father.

Since July 1998 when the couple separated and Michael Kantaras left his wife for her best friend, Noodwang, Kantaras gave Linda Kantaras and their children more than $65,000 in support.

Linda Kantaras

Despite Michael Kantaras' many efforts to support his children, his lawyers claim, Linda Kantaras made frequent attempts to turn the transsexual's children, both of whom he adopted, against him, calling him a woman, a he-she, and "it" in front of them.

Wheeler admitted her client had in the past hampered her husband's visitation rights, but pledged, "Since the last hearing your honor, her behavior has gotten better." Citing testimony from the pastor at the local worship center and numerous friends of her client, the lawyer argued, "Linda Kantaras has changed. If these children should have been taken away ... it should have been earlier."

In her rebuttal closing, Doering tried to portray gender identity as a continuum, citing medical deformities and mishaps which leave some men without fully functioning penises.

"I thought Viagra was supposed to solve all that," O'Brien said, drawing laughs from the near-empty courtroom.

Michael Kantaras

O'Brien, who took an active role during the trial, often questioning witnesses and guiding the attorneys into areas they had not covered, said he thought the language in the Florida marriage statute is more liberal than those in other states that ban same-sex marriages. "It opens the door to a little broader thinking," he said.

Whereas some statutes emphasize the ability to procreate in their marriage statutes, Florida's does not.

The road to a ruling in this Pasco County case, however, could be longer than the hearing itself. The court reporter will take more than 30 days to create a transcript of her records, which lawyers will then use when filing written briefs on the case. Lawyers will take two weeks crafting that brief, and 10 additional days to craft rebuttal briefs before O'Brien will deliver a ruling, which could come more than two months after closing arguments.

Part of the judge's decision could be based on private interviews he held with the children on Thursday. "I came away feeling that both of these children are very intelligent," he said on Friday. "They both seem equally pleased that they had the opportunity to express themselves in this case. And I'm satisfied that they're satisfied."

Until a ruling is reached, the children will continue to live with Linda Kantaras and visit Michael Kantaras according to their current schedule.