"If Barbara Lynn Terry wants to get married Friday morning, she'll have to swear to a judge she's a man. And so will her doctor. Marriage in Question

Otherwise, Wisconsin's same-sex marriage prohibition will keep Terry - who was born a man, lived as a woman for decades and has undergone treatment for sexual-reassignment surgery - from marrying Nicole Winstanley, despite the marriage license application the couple completed March 5.

Courthouse records indicate just how complicated their situation is: Terry, 58, who claims to have identified as a woman since childhood, was convicted of raping a woman in 1970; was denied a request to transfer to a woman's prison while serving the sentence; and legally petitioned for a name change from Ronald Francis Terry in 1980. And Winstanley, 22, claims Australian residency and had lived in Milwaukee County less than 30 days before signing the application.

But the question before the court is, simply, whether Terry is still man enough to marry a woman.