Yes, there has to be a downside. It was a bit surprising that I would find something like that in this group, but it relates to transgender folk and, in one aspect specifically to transsexual folk.
One was the discussion of the legal issues. There is a group working on these and the transsexual issue never came up. Perhaps it is in their notes or on their agenda, but it wasn't mentioned. Here it is - if one of the people in the relationship is transsexual, the laws of the state will have to be used to determine if what is being contemplated is a same sex blessing or opposite sex, and possibly whether a marriage in the church is appropriate.
Transsexual persons have a perception of their gender identity which is in opposition to their physical sex. While that is true to some extent in transgender persons in general, for those who are transsexual it is so strong that the appropriate treatment, after psychotherapy, hormone therapy, a second opinion on the issue, and living a year as a member of the gender with which the person identifies, surgery to change the body is performed. To the extent possible, the external is changed to conform to the internal.
How the government responds to this varies from state to state. Some states will allow birth certificates to be changed and re-issued with the new name and sex designation, and then they will seal the original. Others will permit nothing to be done, and some have procedures in between - such as amending the certificate but leaving the original information accessible. The Social Security Administration and State Department, by the way, will change the gender marker in their records (and on your passport) once proof of the surgery is shown. Some states will accept the person in their new gender role, others go by birth sex.
What does that mean? Here is an example. A male to female transsexual who lives in a state which recognizes her post-operative status can get married to a man, even if same sex marriages are not legal. But another state may only recognize birth sex and that woman can not marry a man. She can marry another woman, even though same sex marriage may be unlawful. While a fun way to mess with the PTB's, it doesn't work unless she is a lesbian. (Sexual orientation has nothing to do with gender identity, and that's a looooong discussion for some other time and place.)
That's the sort of thing a priest might need to know if faced with this situation. The Episcopal Church has transsexuals in the church, and even among the clergy, so this becoming an issue is not at all far fetched.
Give it some thought, folks, if the goal is to be truly inclusive.
It's late so the other half of this will be written later.
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